


A New Era

by Thomas_Cao



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6628369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thomas_Cao/pseuds/Thomas_Cao
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After finding his true strength, Toothless becomes the dragons' new alpha. Hiccup is also recognized as the chief of Berk. From the ashes of a fallen kingdom, a new one shall rise. But will the two worlds, Viking and Dragon, survive the new start or will the war be reestablished? After years of wonderful friendship, both Hiccup and Toothless have to fit into their role as the leader of their world. Will their friendship survive the pressure of adulthood and leadship, or will it be shattered by their conflicts and differences?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Time to Grow

**Author's Note:**

> This starts after the end of the second HTTYD movie, when Hiccup becomes chief and Toothless is the new alpha. 
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything of How to Train Your Dragon, except for this story.
> 
> Happy Reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This begins almost instantly after HTTYD 2. Hope you enjoy this. This is just a sample, it will be short, my later chapter will be and are longer. Hope you enjoy!!!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: The only thing from How to Train my Dragon I own is this story.

_This story begins right after the battle with Drago. No really, there is probably something like a two second gap between the end and this beginning_

 

_TOOTHLESS_

 

"Okay guys, let's go! We need to clean this up!" Hiccup yells as he claps his hands calling for attention. He waves his finger at a section of the crowd, "You guys get wood to repair the houses." Waving to another section, "You get metal, stone, and tools to remake braces, bridges, and weapons." Nodding to another section, "You guys go scavenge whatever food you can, and only food okay? We're spending the night in the Mead Hall." Astrid intertwined her fingers in his hand, "So Hiccup, is this official? Are you asking me to be your official girlfriend?" Hiccup smiled, "Of course Astrid. We've been waiting for this for a while." Hiccup felt eyes on him and looked up to see the whole village still standing in a crowd, showing no signs of moving to work, "Come on guys! Get moving!" The Vikings trudged off, "Wow, I really can't control them like my dad, can I?" Astrid reassured him, "Don't worry it'll be fine." Hiccup smiled, "Of course it will, thanks." He turned to the walls of ice behind him, "Now to get rid of this! How?" Toothless nudged him. "You have an idea?" Toothless nodded. "Well okay..." Toothless grabbed Hiccup and moved him further away under the cover of a stone ledge. Astrid followed the two. Hiccup was placed under the ledge, "Okay, if you want to stay here I will." Toothless licked Hiccup, satisfied, and fled before he could get yelled at for slobbering over Hiccup. "Dang dragon, always getting me all wet and stinky." Astrid and Hiccup sat down.

 

Toothless ran to his dragon friends, [Hey! Hookfang, Meatlug, can you help me?] He hoped that the two would be willing to help him. [What?!], Hookfang snapped. He was always grumpy. Meatlug fluttered over, [Whatcha need Toothless?] Toothless was satisfied that he had at least gotten a response out of the two, [Go find the others and ask them to tell everyone to help me destroy the ice.] The two scattered looking for Stormfly and Barf and Belch, telling any dragons they met on the way. Toothless looked back at his rider, him and his mate were talking and staying under cover. It took half an hour but he had gotten all of the dragons listening to him, [Guys, we need to destroy this barrier if we want to ever make peace with the humans and destroy the last traces of Drago's destruction.] The dragons roared in response. [I want every dragon able, targeting the ice, use whatever you have lava, fire, blasts, spines, I don't care. When your shots are up, start diving at it. Let's go!] Toothless flew into the air and behind him, the dragons ascended into the air, a few at a time to avoid crowding the air. Once most the dragons could aim at the ice, Toothless initiated the barrage, [Everyone! Attack!] The dragons destroyed the ice, sending large chunks of ice hailing onto the ground below. Toothless looked around, seeing all the Vikings including his rider, hiding under protection, nobody looking up at the dragons. Toothless was satisfied with the distraction. He flew over to his old cave on Berk, using his new fins to do quick turns and exhilarating acrobatic tricks. He lighted onto his ledge and slipped inside. He looked for his hidden cache where he kept a number of plans and schematics. He was looking for a specific one.

 

Toothless slipped into the forge, happy to find Gobber there tending the fire. He purred, grabbing Gobber's attention. "Hey, Toothless how you doing?" Toothless raised his ear flaps to give him the signal that he was feeling good. Toothless shoved the plans at Gobber. He unrolled the yellowed pages looking at the sketches and measurements. "Aren't these the plans for that lone flying thingie I made you a while ago?" Toothless gave him no response. "You want me to make one?" Toothless stuck out his tongue, implying that Gobber was right. "Sure, let me go ask Hiccup about the finer points of this here gadget." Toothless bit the back of his shirt, which tasted strangely of flowers and tuna, and took him back into the forge. "Toothless, put me down, I need to talk to Hiccup!" He walked back out, Toothless dragged him back in. " Toothless, stop it let me talk to Hiccup." It took Gobber other twenty two times before he started catching on. It took him another ten times before he understood, by then, Toothless was hungry for tuna or, anything actually, and he contemplated eating Gobber, briefly. "So this will be our secret?" Toothless nodded. "Fine if that's what you want." He stayed there another hour watching Gobber work, and left only after making sure Gobber kept it a secret.

 

Toothless slipped back out as the ice started slipping away from Berk and melted into the warm salt water. An hour later, the ice was nowhere to be seen. He could see the Vikings leaving their shelter, each one having extremely different feelings about the dragon's help. He didn't want to talk to Hiccup or his friends, so he slipped away to the pit where he was shot down, he had claimed it as his own throughout the years. He spent a long time there thinking about his future and remembering memories of Hiccup and him together. He remembered the pools where he caught the few fish he could when he was shot down. He remembered the spot where him and Hiccup met. He pondered the time when Hiccup was trying to gain his trust. He recalled his happiness at the barrels of fish Hiccup brought and when Hiccup starting drawing with him. He shuddered at the memories of his first flight and the moment where he thought he was certainly going to die. He didn't blame Hiccup for anything, he might've shot off his tail fin, but he wasn't mad, he was grateful for all the great experiences and feelings that came from that fateful night. He remembered all of this and more, but the clearest one was their first successful flight and the joy of seeing Hiccup come after getting to know him. He curled up on the rock that he had slept on his first few nights there and growled, dreading what was coming next. 

\----------

_The morning before the raid of Dragon's Den_

{Little One.} Toothless landed on an ice ledge near to an entrance to the sanctuary of the dragons, [Yes, Alpha?] {Come closer, you have been chosen.} Toothless walked into the dark cave until it opened up into the bright lively cavern of the dragon's home. Toothless looked around and realized that no one else could hear the Alpha. Although there were expectant eyes on him, no one reacted to the conversation between Night Fury and Alpha. Toothless realized that the Alpha was talking inside of his head. Toothless bowed down, [Yes Alpha, what do you need?] {Stand up straight, Little Alpha. I have heard of your abilities and I am proud to be in your presence. I can feel the power inside of you. You have the strength of an Alpha and if you wish to, you could rise to be a mighty Alpha as well.} Toothless stood straight but kept his eyes on the ground, respecting the Alpha, [It is I who am pleasured to be in your company, you are the strong Alpha, not me.] {Yes that is true, but you are the strong Night Fury, an Alpha. Look at me.} Toothless was hesitant but he looked at the Alpha to see him staring back at him, [Thank you, I am deeply humbled.] The Alpha chuckled, {Do not be worried, you are not in trouble. I've seen you play with the others, especially the little hatchlings, don't worry about formalities, I see us as equals.} Toothless sat down, happy that he had befriended the Alpha, [Thank you, Alpha. Now can you tell me why you have called me here today?]

 

The Alpha's expression turned grim, {I sense a dark future ahead, I am worried about the Den's safety and all the dragons that consist it. I am worried that they will be defenseless and left vulnerable. I am worried that battle and war are coming to our doors and I must venture onto the battlefield to protect my children. I am worried that I will perish and my dragons will be scattered and enslaved.} Toothless was shocked and purred, [Do not worry Great Alpha, you're stronger than all and you have no need to be worried.] {But you cannot ensure that so I must prepare my dragons for the day when my death comes. I must appoint the new Alpha and train him to fill my absence.} He looked at Toothless, {I have chosen you, you are a mighty dragon, you are stronger than this whole nest, I am confident you will fill the position of Alpha at my death.} Toothless backed away and cried back, [Alpha, you mustn't speak like this. Although I am honored and proud, I am confident there is no need for such urgency.] A wave of shock moved through the Den's dragons. As the two were speaking, little to Toothless's knowledge, the dragons had crowded around Toothless hoping to hear at least half of the conversation. Toothless suddenly felt very self conscious, he was very relieved that he hasn't mentioned the Alpha's fear of his demise, that would have surely sent the Den into a panic.

 

The Alpha diverted his eyes, eyeing the crowd, signaling for the crowd to scatter, {I hope that you are correct but this is nothing to be lost by passing my role onto you now in the event that harm comes to me.} Toothless sighed, [Alpha, I am deeply honored, but I am sure you've been watching me and you know my nature. I am not the right dragon for this. You know that I am not a leader, I can never be half as powerful as you are.] The Alpha watched as the crowd dispersed, {Young One, believe me, you are ready, I have already chosen, if you feel that unprepared you can always refuse my offer, but I deeply wish that you'd accept my offer.} Toothless bowed to the Alpha once more, [Alpha, I believe in your powers and your strength. I also believe in your abilities. I know you can sense the future and you feel that I am the one, but I must ask you to check once more that I am the one to replace you.] The Alpha sighed, sending snow floating down on top of Toothless, {Yes I am sure, I see a man and a beast large as I am, I see destruction and death of my dragons and my sanctuary, but I see you returning to defeat the beast, but not until I have perished. I am sure you shall be my successor.} Toothless sighed and looked into the Alpha's eyes, searching for signs of doubt but he found none, [If you feel this strongly, then who am I to change the future? I accept your offer Alpha, but after my one question has been answered?] The Alpha turned to face Toothless directly, {Of course anything.} Toothless pleaded to the Alpha, {Almighty Alpha, can you see any further into the future no matter how uncertain? What is the future of Berk? What is my future? What is the future of my species?] The Alpha understood Toothless's reasons, {I will see. I will consult the visions tonight in my dreams and I will inform you tomorrow. But in the meantime, welcome to the world Alphas, welcome to your time of Alpha and power over your dragons, I wish you luck in your training.}

 

\----------

 But he had never learned of his future. Toothless hated Drago. He hated Drago for his horrible deeds, for his slavery of dragons, for the destruction of Berk. He hated Drago for all the deaths, he hated Drago for fighting dragons. But two deeds made him hate Drago the most. Drago killed his Alpha. Toothless had only begun his training and was easily unprepared for being Alpha but the situation had forced Toothless to go into Alpha mode and Toothless wasn't sure he could handle the responsibilities that came with being Alpha. His Alpha was the only chance for Toothless to find out his future and what lay in store but he had silenced the Alpha and any chance at knowledge had been lost. Secondly he hated Drago for tricking him, for getting Toothless to kill Stoick, it was all his fault obviously, even if his friends denied it. If he had killed Drago or broke away from Drago's spell, Stoick would still be alive today. If he could do it again, he would've killed himselfthan hurt Stoick, who Toothless knew was prominent at Berk and important to Hiccup. Tears rolled down his face, with just one attack, Drago had turned his whole world upside down.

Hiccup was looking for Toothless, who was nowhere to be found. He checked the stables, the mass of dragons, his house, Astrid's house, the bay, the docks, everywhere. Hiccup started the rebuilding process and the debris movement to other islands or into the ocean before leaving Berk. Hiccup decided to head into the forest and look for Toothless flying around. He spotted Toothless, crawling around the old pit he was shot down into, stopping every few steps. Hiccup climbed into the pit. Toothless, hearing his noise, recoiled from him. "Hey buddy, calm down, what's up?" Toothless looked away, "Come on Toothless, we defeated Drago, the biggest human threat to dragons." He shoved his face into his friend's face trying to cheer him up. Toothless whined sadly. He scratched under Toothless's chin, reaching Toothless's weak spot. Toothless instantly cheered up and fell onto his back, from the sheer amount of pleasure. "There we go, that looks better!" Toothless smiled and stood up after Hiccup stopped. Hiccup chuckled and climbed onto Toothless, "Come on, back to Berk." Toothless returned into his sad and sullen state in the air. Hiccup was worried for Toothless and what was happening.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you liked my sampler. My second chapter is sadder, don't be unprepared. The chapters will get better and happier. I promise! :D


	2. A Hard Farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This starts after the end of the second HTTYD movie, when Hiccup becomes chief and Toothless is the new alpha.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything of How to Train Your Dragon, except for this story.
> 
> WARNING: This story is sad, so do not make the mistake of being unprepared for it or listening to sad music as you read it like when I wrote this.
> 
> Happy (Or sad) Reading!

_HICCUP_

 

The two touched down in a large patch of grass near the forge. Hiccup dismounted and was about to go assist with the rebuilding expecting Toothless to follow, but Toothless pushed him onto the ground. "Ow! Toothless what was that for?" Hiccup asked brushing dirt off of him. Toothless nudged Hiccup to the forge. "No Toothless, I need to help Astrid and the others." Toothless pushed him towards the forge. Hiccup tried to escape Toothless's control but instead of being able to run away, Toothless grabbed the back of Hiccup's shirt and lifted him off the ground, bringing him into the forge. "No, BAD DRAGON! PUT ME DOWN!" Hiccup yelled as he struggled to escape Toothless's strong grip, he even tried using Toothless's weak spot. But as he reached for the spot, Toothless gave out a soft growl, more of a scolding instead of a threat, but Hiccup put down his hand anyways, Toothless had never growled at Hiccup like that before. Toothless walked into the forge where Gobber was and put down Hiccup. "Okay, why am I here?" Hiccup demanded. Toothless gave a grunt and shook his head at Gobber. "Okay, Gobber, why am I here?" Hiccup asked once again. "Well, you see..." Gobber said giving a look at Toothless. Toothless gave another grunt and gave a quick nod of his head. "Um, Gobber what does that mean?" Hiccup said as Gobber excitedly ran into the back room of the forge. "It means I can show you this lad!" Gobber said running out with another artificial tail fin. Hiccup examined it, it was the independent controlled one that he made for Toothless years ago (Author's Note: Hiccup designed a tail that Toothless could use to fly on his own in an episode called, Gift of the Night Fury. You can find it online).

"How did you make this?" Hiccup replied awe shocked, he had lost the plans years ago. "Toothless here brought me the plans yesterday morning. While I was hidin' from all that hail, I made this in the forge. I was going to tell you but Toothless kept draggin' me back til I got the message that I couldn't tell you." Gobber explained, idly scratching Toothless's chin, hitting his soft spot and sending Toothless onto his back and squirming as Gobber continued scratching him. His long tail scattered a pile of ore near the forge flinging stray pieces into a hot cauldron on the dying flames, sending Gobber's apprentice, Eburwin, rushing to the pot to salvage the ore and prevent the metal from cooling inside the pot . "Toothless... did you take my plans when I made the saddle?" Hiccup inquired watching the dragon's face for signs betraying his guilt. Toothless tried to hold a straight but the pressure of the question combined with the pleasure of being scratched caved his resolve to appear innocent and betrayed his guilt by giving Hiccup a large smile that revealed his toothless jaw and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Once again his tail whipped the floor behind him and sent a rack of weapons falling to the ground, sending Eburwin, once again rushing to catch the heavy axes and sharp swords without hurting himself, his dragon, a young Deadly Nadder, assisted him, keeping the largest weapons upright with his tail. Eburwin gave Toothless and Hiccup a dirty look. Hiccup responded with a apologetic look and Toothless gave Eburwin a big smile. Eburwin walked away with a look of disgust. Gobber laughed, "After all this time, and you're still causing trouble wherever you two go." He walked out of the room following Eburwin to help him make the new saddles. Hiccup returned to the new mechanism, "What does this mean buddy?" Toothless flipped back onto his feet. He gave Hiccup a sad groan. Toothless lifted his head to walk out of the forge. Hiccup called for him to come back and seeing he wasn't going to explain, followed Toothless outside.

Hiccup gasped in awe. Outside, almost all the wild dragons from the Nest had gathered on the flat field outside the forge and in front of them stood Toothless, staring at the crowd of gathered Vikings, but focusing his stare at Hiccup specifically. Hiccup knew what happening deep inside but consciously he refused to accept it. "Toothless, what does this mean?" Hiccup asked. Toothless gave a sad howl that was resonated as each of the dragons took up the same sound. With tears in his eyes Hiccup held on to his hope, "Toothless, what's going on?" Astrid, Snoutlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishleg stepped up from the crowd. Even though they teased each other and acted like they didn't care about each other, the team was as inseparable as Toothless and Hiccup. Snoutlout stepped forward, letting his true emotions show through, he put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "I think Toothless is going feral Hiccup.", referring back to when his own dragon, Hookfang, also went feral. Toothless agreed with a soft moan. "No Toothless please, please don't leave!" Hiccup ran to Toothless, collapsing in tears now. Toothless was holding back tears and his urge to let Hiccup on his back, as he just bowed his head to let Hiccup put the new mechanism on. Instead Hiccup just hugged Toothless's snout as he cried onto his best friend. "No, Toothless, please, stay here..." Astrid spoke up giving both, Toothless's head a big hug along with Hiccup holding on to it. "Hiccup, we have to let him go, what will the dragons do with their Alpha grounded here?" Hiccup replied through his tears, "I don't care what happens, I want Toothless to stay." He knew it was selfish to do so, but he didn't want to lose Toothless. Although it was very likely he would see Toothless again, this symbolized something bigger, it symbolized Hiccup giving Toothless his freedom. The two could never have as close a relationship again as long as the two were separated from each other. Astrid took the mechanical extension to the tail fin and attached it to Toothless. Toothless was torn to see his rider like this, he licked the tears off of Hiccup's face. He softly put Hiccup down as he swallowed the painful and guiltful roar he felt building up inside him like horrible acid. Hiccup let go of Toothless as he sat down on the ground, stopping his tears but still sniffling. Fishleg stepped up to Toothless and hugged him too. "Toothless, since we can't be sure we're going to see you again, can you please leave your mark in the Book of Dragons?" He opened up the book and put it on the ground for Toothless to put his footprint in. Toothless obliged and gave everyone a final farewell hug. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were still in the crowd, crying and loudly blowing their noses to the dismay of all the Vikings, but didn't step up for a hug. As Toothless released his best friends and family for the last few years, Toothless's dragons began taking off, each one yelling a tearful, painful goodbye. It reduced the intimidating and tough Viking horde to a sniffling crying crowd.

As Cloudjumper stepped up beside Toothless, he gave each of the Viking representatives a nudge with his head. He looked into the crowd and identified Valka standing near the front, he roared at her, calling her to the front. Valka stepped up, "Yes, Cloudjumper?", sniffling at her son's loss. Cloudjumper did a movement that clearly invited Valka onto his back. She sighed, "I'm sorry Cloudjumper, my place is here now with my son." Cloudjumper roared a painful roar, also despairing at leaving his rider behind. Valka stepped up to Cloudjumper's ear flaps and whispered to him tears rolling down her face, as Hiccup hugged Toothless again, "We need to take care of our half, Hiccup's losing Toothless, and Toothless is losing Hiccup, they can't withstand losing me or you too. Just do your best with Toothless, okay?" Cloudjumper tried one last time by trying to throw Valka onto his back but he knew it was useless. "I'm so sorry, Cloudjumper.", she said as she turned her back to walk away. Cloudjumper let out a mournful cry as Valka walked away biting her lip and holding back tears. Each Viking's dragon descended from where they were and stood next to their owners. Cloudjumper gave Toothless a tight hug with his wing and took off into the afternoon sun. Hiccup released Toothless from his embrace as Toothless gave him a small whimper.

All of the sudden, the two twin Vikings ran off, pushing through the crowd and climbing over others. Valka gave Toothless a hug as she told him to take care of Cloudjumper, receiving a roaring response. Now Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, and Skullcrusher stepped up to give Toothless some small whimpers and head bumps, communicating through their dragon language. As they stepped back, the remaining dragons surrounding Toothless forming a large cloud of dragons chirping, crying, and bumping Toothless, as he tried to respond to as many as possible. Toothless, wanting to leave soon, shot a plasma blast into the air, telling the dragons to disperse. Now, Tuffnut and Ruffnut returned with two necklaces. "Our parents gave us this long ago when we got Barf and Belch..." Tuffnut said. Ruffnut continued, "and we never used them, but you guys could use them now." Tuffnut gave Hiccup a red silver pendant with a white shape on it as Ruffnut put the other half on Toothless's neck. Toothless curled up his tail as Hiccup put the two halves together. The necklaces made the Viking symbol on Toothless's tail fin. "Thanks Tuffnut, Ruffnut." Hiccup replied swallowing his tears. Toothless gave one loud roar to the crowd as he prepared to take off. Hiccup couldn't watch and turned away. Toothless took off with tears in his eyes as he followed Cloudjumper's direction home. Berk's skies were filled with the light of dragon fire blasts as they each fired a shot off following Toothless's trail. The Vikings dispersed leaving Hiccup standing there staring after the shrinking shape of Toothless.


	3. Making the Den a Home for a Newcomer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toothless returns to the destroyed Den to find the dragons awaiting orders from their new Alpha. Toothless must make some hard decisions as he is consumed with helping his own kind while keeping peace with Vikings and staying friends with Hiccup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toothless and Cloudjumper return home and find a new member along the way. Upon returning home, they are surprised by Hiccup and rebuild the Den's destroyed walls.

_TOOTHLESS/CLOUDJUMPER_

 

Toothless's eyes were stained with tears as he flew away from his home, Berk. He could hear the dragons and the Vikings leaving as he left and he could hear the dragons flying back to the their homes, their homes on Berk. Toothless was jealous of them. He never asked for this role as Alpha. He just wanted to live on Berk and fly with his rider and friend, Hiccup. He could still feel Hiccup's eyes on him as he flew away. It was just a gut feeling that Toothless had developed over spending so much time with Hiccup. It was also the same gut feeling telling to go back and apologize to Hiccup and stay with him on Berk. But he knew that wasn't possible. If he did that, he could very well be sentencing all the other dragons to war and death. He looked back to Berk, it was a small spot on the horizon. Knowing that he was out of range of Berk, Toothless let his pain emerge. He let out several angry roars into the night sky, feeling angry about leaving his beloved family and friends behind. He lashed out the sea stacks around him, obliterating them with plasma blasts and causing them to tumble and fall. From one of the few remaining sea stacks, a dark figure rose into the air to fly towards Toothless from behind. Toothless immediately heard it and tensed. He shot ahead and whipped around to face the threat, already charging up a plasma shot. He debated shooting straight out of the air, but he decided he wanted to meet his attacker before attacking.

The dark shadow took on shape and color as it got closer, revealing it's big size and four red wings. Wait, four red wings? Toothless allowed his plasma shot to dissolve without being shooting, as he gave an exasperated sigh. Toothless waited for Cloudjumper to catch up as he was faster if he wanted to be, in his small sleek form than the larger dragon. When Cloudjumper had finally caught up, Toothless gave a small groan and nodded his head, [What are still doing here? You left before me.] Cloudjumper gave a little chuckle, amused at Toothless's confusion, [I have to listen to my rider, and my rider told me to protect you.] Cloudjumper gave Toothless a teasing nudge with his wing. Toothless pouted, [I am not a weak little hatchling anymore.] He puffed up his chest as much as he could, [I am a strong powerfully Alpha. I'm YOUR Alpha.] Cloudjumper laughed, although it was true, they both knew Toothless wasn't ready for his role yet. Toothless joined in on his laugh, hoping it would drive his bad mood away. Cloudjumper responded tactfully knowing that Toothless would fall into his trap easily, [But since your rider is my rider's hatching, I have parental power over you.] Knowing that Toothless loves challenges, he predictably challenged Cloudjumper to a friendly battle, [I the almighty Night Fury, Toothless, challenge you for the power of Alpha. If I win, you shall follow my orders but-] Cloudjumper rolled his eyes and already growing bored of the speech and cut him off, [Whatever just go hide so I can find you.] Toothless darted off using the special flaps, Valka had showed him, to do sharp 180's and doing crazy flips to get Cloudjumper off his tail before finally dodging behind a mountain to see Cloudjumper was slowly following his tail. Toothless said to himself, [As if he could catch a Night Fury like me.] Toothless was a "slightly" vain dragon, proud of being the only Night Fury and being special.

As he was watching his fellow Stormcutter look for him, he felt a tap on shoulder from behind him. He was already coiled to strike or run, so he pounced onto the enemy, who proceeded to wrap him in his wings. Toothless looked again, his attacker was Cloudjumper, again. Toothless struggled to get out from the large dragon's hug, but Cloudjumper was stronger than Toothless was. Toothless gave a frustrated growl, [Let me go!] Cloudjumper was clearly pleased with himself for catching Toothless, [Not until you apologize.] Toothless gave a playful growl, [For what?!] Cloudjumper responded, [For thinking you were better than me!] Toothless grunted pridefully, [Of course not!] Cloudjumper just squeezed him harder in their hug. Toothless yelled getting crushed, [Fine, you are superior!] Cloudjumper let him go looking triumphant. Toothless was about to lift off before noticing that there was still one Stormcutter unaccounted for, [Hey you ever seen another Stormcutter?] Cloudjumper was confused, [Well yes and no.] Toothless was perplexed, [Explain!!] Cloudjumper pridefully boasted, [I will not explain myself to a lesser Night Fury!] Cloudjumper watched for his reaction. Toothless was mad at Cloudjumper's relentless teasing, [Fine, I challenge you for position of Alpha.] He shot a small harmless plasma blast that sent Cloudjumper diving out of the way into the snow. Toothless laughed as he saw Cloudjumper trying to get himself up from the snow. He went over and flopped onto the larger dragon's back, preventing him from getting up, [You are at my mercy, lesser dragon!] To prove Toothless wrong, Cloudjumper easily got up with Toothless laying on his back still and dumped Toothless into the snow and put a foot on Toothless's back which actually stopped him from getting up, much to Toothless's annoyance, [As if you could pin me! But I will surrender.]

Toothless instantly started boasting of his victorious battle, even though it was clearly a pity surrender, [Now, I, the almighty Alpha, demand that you explain yourself.] Cloudjumper sighed and gave a sad groan before starting his story.

\---

Me and Valka had been exploring the northern islands, when we heard a dragon's cry of pain. We landed near the sound where there was a dragon caught in a trap. After we released her, the Deadly Nader took us back to her nest, where we rested for a week before leaving. During our stay, we talked with a Gronkle named Lava-Spitting because of his habit of throwing drops of magma everywhere when he talked. He told us of where he had seen dragons of my species on a nearby island. Me and Valka were instantly excited, well after I figured out how to tell her, with the chance for me to have a real mate. As we reached the island, we saw ship wreckages along the shore. As we wandered the island, we heard a dragon panting. I rushed towards it, with Valka chasing behind, expecting dragons having fun, but instead found a heavily wounded dragon taking his last breaths. He told us what happened how Drago had taken the whole pack and where the survivors should have been hidden. He died soon afterwards, and we buried him on the beach. We reached the "hidden" cave and Valka headed in with me following. We reached the main chamber and Valka pushed me out and wanted me to leave. But it was too late, I saw what was inside. There were ten of them, and they had been butchered to pieces. Valka soon followed me out, leaving a pile of wood and a fiery glow inside. As we flew away from the cremation, Valka officially pledged her life to stopping dragon hunters and I pledged to help her. This was about five years ago.

\---

Cloudjumper sighed, he hadn't wanted to ever remember that memory again, but he did owe Toothless an explanation. Meanwhile Cloudjumper was reminiscing, Toothless had managed to creep underneath his wing and peek his head over the edge of the ledge to keep an eye on the Stormcutter. Cloudjumper snapped out of his trance and nudged Toothess, [Are you okay?] Toothless absentmindedly replied, [Sure.] Cloudjumper watched as Toothless looked at the world below. He sighed, he got along pretty well with the young dragon. He suspected that this was because of their similarity. They were both the first dragons to be ridden, well at least voluntarily. They were both special in their own way, Toothless was the only recorded Night Fury ever. Cloudjumper had lost his family when he was still a hatchling and he was raised by the Bewilderbeast or the Den's members. He also saw the corpses of the only other Stormcutters to be witnessed. He shuttered and shivered at the thought of being alone forever alone. He pulled Toothless closer to him with his wing, prepared to spend the last few hours of night napping and continuing their return tomorrow. Toothless scrambled out from under his wing though, and went back to peering over the edge, [Hey, Cloudjumper.] He could finally see the Stormcutter clearly, [Have you seen a Stormcutter with black stripes on their face plates and blue eyes?] Cloudjumper was surprised at the detailed question, [Well, um, that sounds like the dragon who we buried, it could be his daughter that got captured.] Cloudjumper thought over this thoughtfully and deciding that it was a good answer, lay back down to sleep. It took a moment for Cloudjumper's thoughts to clarify and sink in.

He jumped up, scaring Toothless and almost sending him over the side. [Jesus! Cloudjumper, don't you ever do that again!], Toothless screamed as he recovered his footing and hit Cloudjumper with a smack from his wing. Cloudjumper ignored the hit, and scrambled around looking in the air, [Wait, where is she?!?] Toothless rolled his eyes, [Where do you think? I've been looking in one place for the last half an hour!] Cloudjumper scrambled to the edge. There she was, trying to find shelter, among the rocks under the ledge, but finding no good protection. Cloudjumper exclaimed, [Oh my, it's actually another alive Stormcutter! Toothless, we found one!] Toothless enjoying the attention, corrected, [You mean I found her.] Cloudjumper was getting really tired of the young dragon's vanity, but he did appreciate having company, so he used his tail to just softly nudge Toothless off the edge of the ledge. Toothless fell only a second before regaining his flight and hovered in front of Cloudjumper, [That was rude, not cool!] He frowned at Cloudjumper. Cloudjumper only laughed. Suddenly, a tornado of fire came from below Toothless. Toothless, preferring to not smell like burnt scales the whole next day, swiftly dodged out of the way and landed on the ledge behind Cloudjumper. Cloudjumper sighed and rolled his eyes, the young dragon was easily resistant to fire, but still used others as shield, sometimes he wonders if Toothless was a dragon after all. The dragon yelled out her tribe's signal, signifying what tribe she was from, Cloudjumper recognized it as the same clan that Lava-Spitting had told him about. Hoping she would be more cooperative in the company of a Stormcutter, he roared the Den's signal while adding her dad's name, Spitfire. The fire immediately ceased and they could hear a rustle of wings as the Stormcutter flew up to take a look at the two companions. She tilted her head, trying to recall them, [Who are you?] [I am the one who heard your dad's dying words. I saw him in the forest, he was too far gone to save.], Cloudjumper responded bravely, [He fought off many pirates and hunters. I'm sorry.] She sniffled, [Yes, I have seen the remains of my island, I presume it was also you who buried my dad and cremated my clan? Thank you.] Cloudjumper nodded, [Yes that's true, you're welcome. Can I have your name?] The Stormcutter bowed down, [Black Fire, black stripes with fire breath. The black stripes only belonged to my family so it was important to my parents.] Cloudjumper introduced himself, [Cloudjumper, from Toothless's nest.] Black Fire asked, [I know we just met, but I'm desperate. If I can meet your Alpha, will it be okay for me to stay?] Cloudjumper grinned, [Ask him yourself!] He stepped aside where Toothless was still on guard and crouching.

Black Fire gasped, [Oh my, it's true, it's true.] She bounded over to Toothless, who swiveled to try and keep his vision on her, [A Night Fury! I've always wondered if they exist.] She slowly approached him and Toothless let his fire dissipate. She quickly touched him and Toothless pushed his snout into her paw, [Welcome, you are, of course, welcome in our nest, you're the only Stormcutter except Cloudjumper here.] She smiled, [Well thank you, let me repay you.] She moved her claw under his chin scratching his weak spot, and sending him rolling onto his back. Toothless wiggled with pleasure at the attention he was getting. Black Fire laughed and Toothless remembered his role as Alpha, awkwardly said, [No need, no need to repay me.] He look at the ground, occasionally stealing glances to see her reaction. Black Fire laughed, [Oh, no worries. All dragons should have fun sometimes! I just expected you to be bigger and more formidable.] Toothless grinned, [Are you challenging me?] Black Fire bowed, [Oh heavens no, if I had know less about you though, I might have.] Toothless tilted his head, [If you knew less about me?] Black Fire was confused, [Do you not study dragons here?] Toothless looked at Cloudjumper, who also shook his head, [Yeah, not really.] Black Fire gasped, [Back on my island, we had classes teaching us how to fight other dragons, and how to befriend them.] She directed the last part at Toothless, who shamefully looked away. Toothless changed the topic, challenging her, [Well what do you know about me?] Black Fire impressed him, [Strike class, Unholy offspring of death and lightning, Stealth: 20 in darkness, Attack: 15, plasma blast, Firepower: 14, quick blast but no fire, Stealth: 18, as black as night, never misses, Shot Limit: 6, Intimidation: 18, terrifying, Size: Medium, Speed: 20, never seen, Top Speed: Unknown, Poison: 0, no need when you're already dead, Armor: 18, high protection, Can see in dark caves, Never sighted before.] Toothless shuddered at his description and her knowledge, [Yep, that's me the "unholy offspring of death and lightning"]

Toothless still wanted to impress her as the Alpha of the Den and started to tell stories of his "adventures", [Well before I settled down as Alpha, I was very adventurous. For example, I battled the Red Death which is...] Cloudjumper rolled his eyes as Toothless continued his story. Black Fire, both impressed and bored, looked at Cloudjumper. Through subtle gestures and quick quiet whispers, they formulated a plan. Cloudjumper sneaked up behind Toothless and managed to wrap him in his wings and lay down getting Toothless belly up. Toothless was outraged, [Let me go! That's not how you treat your Alpha! Bad dragon!] Black Fire moved forward toward them. Toothless caught on to their plan, eyes going wide with fear, [Hey look, we need to go, maybe we can talk about this?] Back Fire shook her head. She started using her knowledge to find all of Toothless's weak spots and began scratching under his exposed chin. Toothless began squirming under Cloudjumper's wing, but Cloudjumper kept him down. Toothless tried to appear threatening but, his big smile was hardly scary, [Let me go!] Black Fire laughed, [Who knew a Night Fury could so ticklish?] She moved on to scratching the base of his neck as Cloudjumper tightened his grip. Toothless, all of a sudden, went still. Cloudjumper raised his head to look at Toothless, [Um, what did you do?] Black Fire was interested, [Legends tells of a spot that controls the consciousness of a Night Fury. If pressured it could with revive or knock out a Night Fury instantly.] Cloudjumper unwrapped his wings from Toothless and stood next to Black Fire, [Where? This could be very useful.] Black Fire smiled and pointed to the base of Toothless's neck and where there was a small indentation above his shoulder blade. Cloudjumper pushed a dull claw into the area. Toothless instantly regained consciousness and started squirming again. He released that his restrictions were gone and that the two Stormcutter were staring at him intently. Toothless felt violated and flew off the ledge, [What was that for? What did I do for you guys to torture me? I've decided that you two are horrible friends. Let's go, we need to get back to the Den.] The sun was rising on the horizon as Toothless flew off. Both Stormcutters chuckled knowing Toothless wasn't really mad. They admired the sunrise for a moment before flying off following Toothless.

It took them another two days to get back to Den. As they flew, they landed to rest and eat, and while in flight, they chatted and told stories. They arrived around midday. All of the dragons crowded around the newcomer, starting curiously at both Stormcutters as Toothless tried to get the two to a more private area where he could further talk to Black Fire. Although she knew this was Toothless's nest, she was still anxious to be surrounded by so many dragons. She flinched as a Deadly Nadder sniffed her tail and when a Terrible Terror landed on her head. Shaking the Terror off, she pushed through the crowd following Toothless and Cloudjumper into a cave on the other side of the cavern that was illuminated by a flaming torch. She looked at it with puzzlement, she had only seen those in human settlements, she thought, [Not only have they evolved to use human tools but have gotten dexterous enough to build them. Amazing!] They reached an inner chamber that served as both a lounge and a guest room, all of the children playing in there froze as Toothless walked in. Toothless was always kind to the children and told them to leave, [Hey guys! Did you guys have fun in here?] He received a chorus of yes as the hatchlings crowded around him. Toothless cleared his throat, [Now me and Cloudjumper have someone to talk to, so can you guys go play in the meadow and wait?] An older hatchling shouted at Toothless, [Yes of course!] They climbed on Toothless. Toothless gave a playful groan, [I said you guys not me!] The hatchlings stubbornly sat down on Toothless's head, back, and tail. He turned to the Stormcutters and smiled, [As you can see, I have a problem here. Please give me a second. I'll hopefully be right back.] The hatchlings caught sight of Black Fire and rumors started spreading instantly as they all kept an eye on her, the dragons could hear scattered words like, "Cloudjumper", "Stormcutter", and "girlfriend" followed by lots of mischievous smiles and laughs. Cloudjumper gave the hatchlings a low growl to remind them of his presence, and they got quiet right away. Toothless gave Cloudjumper a small smile and walked out carrying the hatchlings, they could hear Toothless discussing something with them. They settled onto two of the many flat rocks in the room that weren't covered in hatchling saliva or toys and trinkets. Cloudjumper talked first, [So, what do you think of the Den?] Black Fire was honest, [It's incredible. I thought my tribe of twenty was large but here you guys have something like hundreds of dragons here!] Cloudjumper looked proud, [Thanks, although Toothless is an extremely new Alpha, this nest has a very long history.] They chatted as they waited for Toothless to return. Toothless walked in and was pleased to see the two getting along perfectly, [You two look like you're having fun.] Black Fire nodded, [Yes, the Den is very interesting and successful.] Toothless swelled with pride, [Well, I'm afraid we must change topics to your history. So I have gotten caught up with the story of your tribe and Drago's attack and trapping. So what happened to you after that?]

Black Fire became visibly disturbed, it was clear this was a hard topic, [Well, I hid in the cave with the survivors, but then I heard the sounds of my dad fighting the soldiers until I heard a roar of pain and I knew my dad was injured. I was already an adult back then, so I tried to help my dad, but when I found him, I could tell he was going to die. He was still worried about me in his death though.] She smiled, [He was always so selfless, but anyways he told me to run and hide before I got captured, but I couldn't leave his side. The soldiers returned, right after butchering the rest probably, and saw me, they were going to kill me before their leader stopped them. He walked up to me and flashed such a cruel smile at me that I wanted to rip him apart just for that. Who could so horrible as to butcher a whole tribe and then just flash a smile like he wanted to become friends?] She became extremely outraged and started crying. Cloudjumper comforted her, letting her cry on his shoulder and wrapping a wing around her, [It's okay if you're not ready, you don't have to finish.] He glanced at Toothless. Toothless quickly nodded, [Yes, of course, you take your time, if you're not ready, we can do this some other time.] She sniffled and stopped sobbing, [No, I need to talk about this to it get over with and start moving on from my past.] Toothless and Cloudjumper looked at each other. Toothless spoke up, [It's your choice, we won't force anything onto you.] She pushed away from Cloudjumper and sat up straight to continue her story, [He tried to reach for me, but I shot my flames at him but it did nothing to stop him, he was wearing a cloak of dragon skin! Within the span of only a minute, he had crossed the whole clearing, while I was breathing flames at him, and managed to remain completely unharmed. If he had reached me, I would probably have become another slave in his army. But he didn't, at the last moment my father lunged at him knocking him over and pulling attention off of me. I finally managed take off and escape. I have been spending the last few years bouncing from home to home, sometimes completely alone, sometimes living in groups of many, from the Southern islands to the Northern islands, I've seen and learned about all types of dragons, I've even seen giant Alphas, like your former one that Cloudjumper told me about. But I had never found a Night Fury like you, or a Stormcutter like me and Cloudjumper.] Toothless felt his hope fade, [Oh, well, that's unfortunate.] Cloudjumper could see how much pain this caused Toothless, realizing that Black Fire's information crushed Toothless's hopes, wrapping him in another hug, [Don't worry Toothless, she certainly hasn't traveled the whole world right?] Black Fire realized what this meant for Toothless, that he was the last Night Fury, [Oh, oh yes, of course, there could easily be many more Night Furies somewhere near here.] Toothless wasn't comforted, [Thanks, but you don't need to make me feel better.] He wandered out with his head lower in disappointment and sadness. Black Fire felt horrible, [I'm sorry, this is my fault. I just got here and I'm already making people sad.] Cloudjumper sighed, [It's fine, we already acknowledged the fact that we might not have anyone else, but it always hurts him anyways.] Black Fire was amazed, [I've never seen such a close bond between two dragons, well in fact, between anything!] Cloudjumper smiled, [Me and him have a lot in common, we have no families and until yesterday, we had no others of our species.] A question was nagging at Black Fire until they heard a large bell ring outside. Cloudjumper knew what this meant and went running outside. Black Fire chased after him, [What does that mean?] Cloudjumper didn't reply. She grabbed his tail and pulled him back, [What's going on? How did you guys make a bell?!] Cloudjumper realizing he had forgot to mention the role of humans in their lives, [Well, remember that tail fin on Toothless. Black Fire nodded. Cloudjumper fidgeted anxiously, [Well, it's not dragon made.] Toothless bounded into the tunnel, [Come on, we need to go.] He pulled Cloudjumper out. Black Fire ran out and stopped a Monstrous Nightmare, [What's happening?] The Nightmare replied, [The humans are here.]

Black Fire ran out into the afternoon sky. She saw dragons boarding the Viking ships and decided they had it under control. She noticed a boat landing on the beach further down the coast. Toothless was running towards it. She decided that the Night Fury could handle them, but when he got to the boat, a rather small Viking jumped on him! Cloudjumper also rushed the boat, only to have a woman jump on him as well. She had to rescue them! The two humans might have weapons to kill Cloudjumper and Toothless. Toothless rolled in the sand, wrestling with his small rider. He grabbed Hiccup's shirt and threw him into the air, only to catch him in his toothless mouth. He spit him out, covered in saliva. Hiccup gave Toothless a glare as Toothless laughed. Cloudjumper was nuzzling Valka as she came off the ship, he pinned her to the ground and playfully bared his teeth. She scratched under his face plates, exposing the soft scales that was his weak spot and instantly put him on the ground, wanting more attention. Astrid walked onto the shore and Toothless ran off to talk and catch up with Stormfly. Then, a cyclone of fire interrupted their reunion. Luckily the dragons protected their riders from the blast, leaving all the dragons singed and slightly annoyed. Valka, Hiccup, and Astrid ran and hid behind an outcropping of rocks, looking for the threat. Toothless looked at Cloudjumper, [Did you tell her about Valka and Hiccup?] Cloudjumper apologized, [I might have forgotten to let it slip out.] Toothless only glared at him and shook his head, disappointed. [Black Fire, it's okay! They're friends.], turning round and round listening and watching for her. She poked her head from under a row of bushes, [Friends?] Toothless turned to show her the saddle, [Family even, Hiccup is my rider and Valka is Cloudjumper's.] Black Fire felt stupid, and walked towards him, [Oh, I'm so sorry.] Valka and Hiccup noticed the newcomer and was amazed, they crept up behind her to get a better look and perform an examination of her stats. Fishlegs, a few meters away, took notes in the Book of Dragons. Toothless shook his head, [It's our fault for not telling you.] Black Fire cheered up, [So where are they?] Toothless stared at the humans crawling around her, [Um, well, they're, um, nearby.] Black Fire followed his gaze and saw the three humans examining her. She jumped back and used her face plates to appear threatening. Hiccup looked from her to Cloudjumper, "Yep, definitely, a Stormcutter." Valka tried training her the same way she trained Cloudjumper, by offering her a gift, in this case a shiny trinket. Black Fire consulted Toothless, [What is this?] Toothless rolled his eyes, [A peace offering.] Black Fire took it and dropped it on Valka. She had no need for it.

Valka knowing she had her trust, told Hiccup to continue his examination. He walked up to Toothless, giving him a big hug, "Hey buddy, let's act it out, what is her name?" This was a game they used for communicating complex things. Toothless loved this game. He drew two lines in the sand. Hiccup started, "Okay, so two words." Then he pointed to his scales. Hiccup and Astrid guessed, "Scales? Night?" He pointed to Black Fire's stripes and a black rock nearby. "Um, hard? Nature?" Toothless pointed to a burned tree and some charcoal. "Destroy? Black?" Toothless vigorously nodded his head. Hiccup complimented Astrid for her good guess, "Nice job, Astrid. Okay next word." Toothless shot a plasma blast into a faraway rock. "Blast? Destroy?" Toothless told Cloudjumper to breathe fire. "Hot? Red?" Black Fire joined in breathing fire also while Toothless caught the flames with a stick to make a torch. "Light? Torch?" After several more attempts and fail guesses, Toothless uprooted a small tree and he set down the tree and set it on fire and pointed at the flames. "Flames? Fire?" Toothless tackled Hiccup and pinned him. Hiccup looked at Astrid, "Okay, I think we got it right, her name is Black Fire." Toothless gave Hiccup a big lick to tell him that he was right. Hiccup wasn't as pleased with his choice of communication. "You big reptile! Get off of me, you're so annoying!", claimed Hiccup as he wiggled out from under Toothless and sprinted along the shore with Toothless giving chase. Toothless tackled Hiccup onto the sand and being very pleased with himself, first sat on Hiccup and then laid down on top of him, ceasing Hiccup's resistance as he was thoroughly flattened. Cloudjumper didn't want another human to get hurt, so he yelled at Toothless to get off. Toothless rolled his eyes but complied and got off. Black Fire was thoroughly confused by what she had witnessed, [Toothless is a very rounded dragon, isn't he?] Cloudjumper laughed at her wise choice of words, [Yes, he's the unholy offspring of death and lightning, as brave as an army of dragons, as powerful as an empire of Vikings, as tamed as a puppy, as smart as a human, and as playful as Terrible Terrors.] He watched Toothless wrestle with Hiccup, flattening the poor boy again and again, [So yes you could say that he is a very diverse dragon.] Black Fire was completely enjoying herself, [I'm so happy that you guys found me, I actually have a home now, not just temporary places to spend a night.] Cloudjumper smiled, [We're happy to help.] He looked at the mid afternoon sun. He roared to Toothless, [Come on, you need to get control of your dragons, you're lucky they even waited for us to come back.] Toothless frowned, [Do I have to?] Cloudjumper gave him a stern look. Toothless gave Hiccup a good bye by grabbing him, flying high into the sky, and letting him and his glider wings get him back to the ground after lots of cursing and insults aimed at Toothless. Black Fire was shocked at this before realizing all the smart inventions the dragons and Vikings had now, thanks to Hiccup.

Toothless headed back to the beach in front of the Den where all the dragons were socializing and some were meeting humans that would probably become their rider in the future. After Toothless had talked with the community about how great Hiccup was, most of the Den had wanted a rider also. He called to a Gronkle, a Zippleback, and a Whispering Death that were talking a group, [Hey, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, and Earthchewer, can you come help with repairing the walls?] Without the Alpha's ice breath, they couldn't rebuild the ice walls, so they opted for a solid stone wall instead. He told Earthchewer to break up the stone on the nearby island, where Toothless could blast the stones into manageable pieces. Cloudjumper and Barf and Belch brought the chunks to the wall where Black Fire would heat their edges up for Meatlug to use his molten magma to fuse the stones together. The other dragons would help support the wall and keep it from falling while it was being built. They did it pretty well and only had one problem when some Terrible Terrors came and annoyed the dragons that were holding up the wall, they almost caused the wall to cave inside. It took them the rest of the day and most of the night. The patch of stone looked completely natural when they were done, it was flat enough to look real and rough enough to have footholds for perching.

Hiccup watched the dragons. It was amazing how efficient they were at building the wall. He spent the afternoon flying on Toothless and spending time getting dragons to bond with future dragon riders. As night fell, many people and dragons started to go to sleep. Many of the dragons had fallen asleep outside, along with the Vikings sleeping aside them for heat, leaving Hiccup the ability to wander freely without worry of the Vikings gossiping about him. He found Toothless, Cloudjumper, Black Fire, Meatlug, Hookfang, Stormfly, and Barf and Belch sleeping on a flat ledge that had been significantly warmed up by their natural heat and the fire they had used to warm up the rock before sleeping. He found Toothless and Cloudjumper sleeping in their usual manner, Night Fury under Stormcutter's wing. Barf and Belch had draped their head over Meatlug, while Hookfang was sleeping and kept his body smothering to limit the amount of gas that Barf was exhaling and not letting it pile up. So each time Barf exhaled, Hookfang's fires would lit the gas and prevent it from building up in the night sky. Stormfly was sleeping under Cloudjumper's other wing, twisting her body into a full circle to fit under the wing, peeking only her head out. Black Fire was also included, she lay next to Toothless and draped her wing over both Toothless and Cloudjumper. He smiled. He was happy that Black Fire was blending with the group so well. He was also happy for Cloudjumper, he had finally found a mate. Although he assumed it wasn't official yet, he knew it was only time until the two paired up. He knew that Toothless had not found a dragon of his own yet and he felt bad for him. He had no idea about the suspicion that Black Fire had confirmed for Toothless, how low the chances of a Night Fury were. Hiccup thought about himself, although him and Astrid have gotten pretty close and even started dating, they haven't thought about it any further, and until further notice, they decided to stay as boyfriend and girlfriend. Snoutlout boasted that he had met somebody on a faraway island and she was waiting for him, but the "lucky" girlfriend had yet to be sighted. Honestly no one believed him. Fishlegs wasn't even bothered with the idea of romance and probably never will be. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were probably never going to find anyone, they had enough trouble with each other, he couldn't imagine them finding a special somebody.

Hiccup headed back to his camp to try and fall asleep, but he noticed Cloudjumper staring intently at him. He could hardly see Hiccup, only by staring out of the corners of his eyes could he catch glimpses of him. Hiccup moved right to be in his line of sight and Cloudjumper groaned in pleasure after being able to relax his eyes. Hiccup stepped up to him, "Hey Cloudjumper." Cloudjumper gave him a grunt. Hiccup said what he needed to, "Can you please take care of Toothless? I can't be there for him all the time now and I have faith that you will protect him. He might be a Night Fury, but he's as naive and kind as a hatchling or toddler." Hiccup smiled as tears came to his eyes, "He's going to need help out there. I always thought I would be with him forever, even after death." He smiled, "But I can't do that anymore, so promise me, you won't let him die until I can get there and die with him." He smiled. Cloudjumper knew the bond his young friend and this human shared, he gave Hiccup a soft purr that meant he would give his life to protect his young companion. Hiccup smiled, wiping away tears, "Thanks Cloudjumper, now, be nice to Black Fire, she might be the only chance you get." He winked at Cloudjumper. Cloudjumper rolled his eyes knowing what he meant. As Hiccup walked away, Cloudjumper fell back into deep sleep. Hiccup headed back to his camp once again watching his team and his mother sleeping near a pile of embers that was a campfire, but after long consideration, he felt like he belonged within this group of dragons that were his closest friends before anyone else was there for him. He gave Astrid a kiss on the cheek and checked on his mom. It was amazing how she had returned back into his life after so long. He sat there thinking about that for a minute before he grabbed his fur blanket and returned to the dragons, falling asleep in the middle of their semicircle on the flat ledge.

Morning came and the dragons woke up, a lot earlier than the humans. The seven close friends woke up within the same minute from each other's rustling and noticed Hiccup sleeping nearby. They purred contently and walked up to him, chattering among them, discussing their plan of action. They had explained this game to Black Fire and she was looking forward to trying it. The dragons would find a "complying" human that was sleeping, Hiccup would be the best victim. They would pick them up and take them into the sky without them waking up and start playing catch, in this case, with Hiccup. The game would slowly escalate as the catches would get harder and riskier.The dragon who wakes up the "volunteer" or messes up their catch would lose. Toothless grabbed Hiccup's peg leg and took him up far above the ocean. It was Hookfang's turn and they were on the thirtieth catch, when Hiccup woke up. Hookfang was only holding Hiccup by putting wrapping his tail around Hiccup's feet, leaving Hiccup to wake up and see an endless expanse of clouds. Hiccup was not surprised though, he was instead very mad, "Great. Great! This game again, can you guys grab someone else next time?!" Hookfang not appreciating getting yelled at dropped Hiccup. Hiccup opened his glider wings and started gliding down. But the dragons weren't done yet. With Hiccup awake and their fun not complete, they started blasting Hiccup with fire, blasts, and spines. Hiccup turned and weaved between their shots and dives trying to avoid death. Hiccup tried closing his wings and diving onto the ground but the dragons caught him. "Thanks for helping guys!", Hiccup yelled with total sarcasm as Cloudjumper pulled him higher up so they could keep playing the game. Hiccup did eventually make it down, but not after a while of weaving and reacting to the threats coming from all around. The Vikings below hadn't helped either. As soon as Hiccup was in sight, Vikings started gathering and watching the game instead of calling off the dragons or helping to distract the dragons. Snoutlout was excitingly jumping and cheering as time and time again, Hiccup was hidden from view by an explosion or fireball. Astrid secretly wondered if Snoutlout hated Hiccup more than Drago did. Once Hiccup made it to the ground, money and possessions started exchanging hands as the betting yielded losses and gains. There were bets from, "Will Hiccup survive?" and "How many times will Hiccup almost die?" to "How long will this take?" and "How many times will Hiccup curse the dragons?" The latter was most popular. Hiccup gave the Viking dirty glances, angry at them for being so useless, but a twinkle in his eyes showed his amusement at the chaotic exchanging of goods. Astrid walked up and kissed Hiccup, "Well that was a close one huh Hiccup?" Hiccup nodded and smiled, "Not any closer than any normal day on Berk." Toothless and his gang landed. They once again pulled Hiccup away into their Nest. "Bye Astrid!", he yelled as two dragons pulled his arms in different directions, somehow still leading him to the Nest. Astrid waved to him. As Hiccup was dragged out of sight, she turned to the Vikings to collect her money. Money is money, no reason to let it go to waste right?

Toothless took Hiccup to a chamber full of broken gadgets. Each time Hiccup came here, he would fix whatever the dragons had broken. As Hiccup started he talked to Toothless, watching excitedly, "So how's the Den?" Toothless flashed him a dragon smile. "Good, and how fares your quest for a Night Fury?" Toothless growled at this and showed his failure through his posture. "I'll be fine you'll find one eventually. Now, what about us?", Hiccup said after already having "fixed" twenty fish traps that weren't broken anyway, "Is this us now, living so far apart and only seeing each other during visits?" Toothless grunted. "I just wish you could come back to Berk." Toothless purred and glared at him, reminding him that that was impossible. "I know Toothless, it just sucks. I have an idea. Do you want to come back to Berk for the week?" Toothless straightened up showing his enthusiasm, but remembered his role here and whimpered. "Come on Toothless, just a week please?" Toothless was torn between his rider and his obligation to his Alpha. "Please?!?", Hiccup was begging now. Toothless knew he couldn't and walked out, head down in pain and shame, turning his back to Hiccup to hide his pain. Hiccup felt tears rolling down his cheeks as he went back to fixing the gadgets. Toothless left the Den to see a Viking and a Deadly Nadder staring at each other, challenging one other. Toothless stepped in and roared at the Deadly Nadder until he was submissive. The Nadder, Fire Spines, explained how the Viking and him had gotten into an argument over a shiny necklace. Fire Spines had grabbed the necklace on the ground as the Viking ran up and snatched it back. Toothless looked at the discarded necklace on the sand. He gave the necklace to the Viking, who wandered off looking victorious and Toothless ran off looking for Valka. After a lot of acting and guessing, she handed over the "peace offering" or one of the many small necklaces in her pouch. He ran back to the Deadly Nadder, angrily pacing the beach, scaring Terrible Terrors. He presented the necklace to the Nadder who, excited with his new accessory, ran off boasting of his treasure. Toothless let out a long sigh. They had only been here a day and a fight had almost broke out already. He pondered the situation, Vikings and dragons, enemies for centuries. Even now after peace, they still don't mix.

The Vikings stayed for the rest of the week which was four days. The Vikings and the dragons starting getting more and more aggravated each day, as they violated each other's home, possessions, and territory. On the fourth day, there had almost been a full on riot when the Vikings and dragons had gotten into a fight over a barrel of fish, but luckily Toothless and Hiccup had defused the dangerous situation. Each day, Hiccup slept with the dragons and would try to convince Toothless to come back, and each time he would get denied and would be left to his lonely pain and tears. During this time, Toothless had reorganized the dragons and continued his training with Cloudjumper. Because Toothless wasn't a natural Alpha and wasn't a Bewilderbeast, he couldn't control the dragons instantly. By learning and training with Cloudjumper, he had increased his power enough to be a suitable Alpha. The morning of the fifth day of the Viking's stay, they loaded up any remaining equipment and food that the dragons hadn't taken and got ready to set sail. Hiccup talked to Toothless one last time. "Toothless, I've accepted that you're free now and I can't change that. But I feel good knowing that you're still my dragon, and that we will meet again and when I do, I'll have your support and strength behind me." Hiccup smiled, "I just want you to know that you're the best dragon or person that I've even met." He gave Toothless a hug. Toothless licked Hiccup and wrapped him in his paws before letting him go. Hiccup and Toothless could see the sadness in each other, but they could also see the excitement of knowing that they will meet again soon. Hiccup boarded his ship with Astrid as Valka stepped on too, after her goodbye to Cloudjumper. They set sail and now it was Toothless's turn to watch his rider disappear until he was only a dot on the horizon. Cloudjumper wrapped his wing around Toothless, the two sharing each other's warmth in the cool morning as they watched their riders disappear. Black Fire approached them and although she had no bonds to the Vikings, she respected the moment and sat next to Toothless, watching the expressions on Toothless's and Cloudjumper's face. She saw their reactions and couldn't help wondering if the two were brothers of a different species. As the moment dissolved and reality came back, all the awake dragons, crowded Toothless and Cloudjumper, waiting for their permission to freely hunt and play. Toothless shook his sorrowfulness off and looked at his dragon family all looking expectantly at him and he couldn't help but feel less lonely knowing he had friends and allies everywhere around him. Toothless roared into the morning air as the crowd took up his roar and dispersed, leaving to do their jobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I took a long time to post this but I wanted to make it a real long one. I'll do my best to post once a week or once every two weeks. I'll try and make it between last time's length and this length.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own this website.  
> Map of the HTTYD world: http://www.dreamworkstv.com/race-to-the-edge/map/#/map


	4. Tension Rises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Hiccup's and Toothless's worlds collide, tension arises as they both fight for their family. Will Hiccup and Toothless be able to fix the conflicts this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very happy with how this story is doing, although the story isn't extremely popular, it is getting a constant hit rate everyday. As I write, I hope I can persuade more and more people to read this.

_HICCUP_

 

Hiccup had made it back to Berk with the Vikings, with as little problems as you could have with Tuff and Ruffian on board. He stepped onto the dock to be greeted by a storm of Terrible Terrors. They enveloped him, landing on him and stealing scraps of food, pieces of cloth, or small trinkets, as they flew away, playing with their new found toys. A loud growl caused them to fly away, shrieking at the interruption and landing on the ledges etched into the nearby cliff. As Hiccup jumped to snatch his journal back from a retreating Terrible Terror, he felt a snout underneath his foot, allowing him to reach the journal and untangle it from the Terror's claw. He looked to see who the helpful dragon was.

Skullcrusher stared back at him. Jumping down off of Slaughterer's nose, he scratched Skullcrusher as he thanked him, "Thanks for helping me with those Terrible Terrors." Skullcrusher purred. After Stoick's tragic death, Hiccup had gotten very close to Squelcher, who was still hurt from his rider's death. Although Skullcrusher had gotten very attached to Eret, he still liked to follow Hiccup around Berk sometimes. He stepped away from Squelcher. He heard someone running down the dock, "Squelcher! Squelcher! Where are you?! Oh, there you are.", Eret said as he approached where Skullcrusher and Hiccup were. Skullcrusher left Hiccup, and walked over to Eret and apologized with a headbutt and purring apologies. Eret ran his hand over Slaughterer's head, "It's okay, just tell me next time, I can't just have a rogue dragon running around the village okay?" Eret turned his attention to Hiccup, "How did your visit go?" Hiccup turned his attention to him, "Good enough, didn't get to do everything I wanted to, but I did enough." Eret demanded more details, "Come on please tell me more! Please?" Hiccup rolled his eyes. Eret, son of Eret, master dragon wrangler, had turned out to be a very curious person after learning his "nicer" side. Although he is very strong and he did a lot of work cleaning up Berk after the attack and he works really hard in the dragon stables, he is extraordinarily curious. Although he is very good in combat and exceptionally well at dragon combat, he always wants to hear about other people's battles instead of fighting himself. He doesn't like to fight with Vikings, even though he wrestles with dragons all the time to train. Hiccup knew that it wasn't because he was intimidated, but he did know why. After watching Eret carefully to make sure he didn't betray them, he realized that Eret was a very good negotiator. He would never get into a brawl with his men or the Vikings. When an argument broke out, he would be the ambassador, the one who would talk the situation through and defuse any fight. He respected Eret for his unique abilities. He knew that Eret's ability of negotiation was the only thing keeping him alive under Drago's control. Skullcrusher left to socialize with some other dragons. "Well the first day we got there we got attacked by a dragon." Eret smiled, "Cool, very cool. What did you do?" "Well, Toothless spoke to it and we discovered that it was a Stormcutter." Eret jumped with excitement, "I knew it. I knew it. I knew it!" Hiccup jumped back a bit, surprised by Eret's crazy behavior, "You knew what?!?" Eret calmed down a bit, "I knew that every dragon has a partner, no dragon is alone in this world! I knew it!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Eret, you are obviously forgetting about one particular dragon." Eret looked at a Viking loading crates onto a boat that was leaving the dock soon. He grabbed a piece of dried fish from a crate as the man walked passed, "I am?" the man growled and glared at Eret. Eret ignored him and calmly ate his snack. Hiccup wanted to punch him for being so stupid, "What about the Night Furies and Toothless?" Eret chewed the fish, "So, what?" Hiccup was worried about Eret's mental health, "Well, there's no other Night Fury is there?" Eret continued nibbling on the fish, "Yes there is." Hiccup was really worried now, "No, no there isn't, we've never ever found one." Eret bit a chunk out of the slice of fish, "Ha! You, finding a mighty Night Fury. Leave it to the pros." Hiccup guessed what Eret was hinting at, "Wait, so you found a Night Fury?" Eret laughed, "Not found, it was more like wrangled or hunted down or-" Hiccup grabbed Eret, "And you never told us?!?" Eret shrugged, "There was never a time for it and it didn't seem important." Hiccup shook Eret, "Stay focused! Where did you see it?" Eret chuckled, "Not see, hunted it or stalked it is more correct." Hiccup glared at him. Eret refocused, "Right, well from my memory, we saw it quite a ways from here, down South. It's really warm down there always hot and sweltering, really wished it was winter when we went down there." Hiccup nodded, "Okay, so it's down very far down south, how many did you "hunt"?" Eret smiled, "You said hunt! Well we couldn't clearly tell but it could have been five, or twenty, or five that looked like twenty, or twenty that looked like five, or maybe there was three?" Hiccup pushed Eret to the side of the deck and started pacing up and down the dock, "So you found twenty Night Furies, didn't capture a single one, didn't tell anyone, found us with Toothless, listened to us tell you that Toothless was the only one left, agreed with us, and were happy to let us continue believing that?!?!?!?!?" Eret, realizing the error of his decisions and slowly moved away from Hiccup, like he was an angered dragon that should be avoided, "Would it help if I told you that there could have been five?" Hiccup growled in frustration and lunged at Eret who was surprised at Hiccup's sudden movement and started fleeing up the pathway leading from the dock into the settlement, not wanting to fight the chief of his village.

Hiccup let Eret go as he thought about the new information. He would have to return and tell Toothless right away. He glanced at the sun, it was mid afternoon now and the ships had to be loaded, which would leave their departure time at sunset. Astrid saw Hiccup standing at the beginning of the docks, "Hey Hiccup, what are you doing?" Hiccup replied absentmindedly, still doing calculations, "Planning to return to the dragon's Den." Astrid was surprised, "Already? Hiccup, we just got back. Did Ruffian and Tuff give you a concussion on the ship?" Hiccup mumbled, "Almost but I was standing behind the ship's mast and Barf and Belch got stuck trying to step on me." Astrid was slightly amused at her boyfriend's reaction, "Okay, good, now why are we going back?" Hiccup jumped onto the already loaded fishing boat, "To tell Toothless we have a mate for him!" Astrid was awestruck, "You found another Night Fury?" Hiccup scratched his head, "Well, found is not the right word, heard or heard about might be more accurate." Astrid rolled her eyes, "Hiccup, stop counting your eggs before they hatch, let's find the dragons before we get Toothless's hopes up. Okay?" Hiccup sighed, stepping off the boat as a glaring sailor shoved past, holding a heavy crate, "But Toothless would want to know right away." Astrid put her hand on his shoulder, "Let's wait until tomorrow at least, by the time you get there it's going to be night time." He sighed, "Okay." Astrid put her arm over his shoulder and pulled him toward the town square as Vikings gathered to welcome their chief back.

As Hiccup changed into his more comfortable night clothes and jumped into bed, he wrapped himself in his blanket. He was so cold. He struggled to figure out why. Maybe Jack Frost was here early this year? It was as cold as the big waterfall that he had discovered on a flight so long ago. He remembered how cold the air and water was, as he stood on top of a pillar as tall as a tower, drawing the landscape and adding details to his map. But then his mind grasped it. He was missing his best friend. He was missing his partner, his dragon, his comrade, his family, his pet, his spiritual brother, his Toothless. Hiccup was shocked. Hiccup couldn't even think about falling asleep now. Even if it was for a moment, Hiccup had forgotten about Toothless. Hiccup lit the lanterns and candles in his room. He went to his table and grabbed a stack of papers from a pile. He spread them out and looked at them. They were diagrams of Toothless and his artificial tail fin. Hiccup pulled sheets and sheets of paper from a stack under his desk. He took out the map in his journal and spread it across the floor. The mapping slowed a lot after Toothless had flown off to be with his own kind. Hiccup couldn't blame him though. His role as chief had also taken up a lot of his time and he had less and less time to do his own exploring and his own work. He looked from Berk to Dragon's Edge, the colony they established so long ago. Now it was teeming with life, the dragons loved it and Vikings had started colonizing the island but still respected the dragon's home, even though they had to rebuild a lot of the original buildings after several attacks. He looked to the Dragon's Den, further off in the distance on the map. He had written his mom's name to label the island. He hadn't seen his mom since Toothless left. He suspected that she was on the further side of the island, still sorting out her feelings. Hiccup had made up his mind to do the same thing, but he was interrupted each time by someone asking for help. He rubbed out the name and wrote it slightly to the right so he could draw Toothless in the fashion that he always slept in, curled up in a circle and purring softly. He taught him how to do that the second day Toothless followed Hiccup home and slept in Hiccup's room. Hiccup decided that Toothless was snoring too loudly after spending a night, twisting and turning in his bed as he tried to hide Toothless from his father. It had taken him a lot of patience and persistence, waiting for Toothless to fall asleep and slapping his nose if he started snoring. But about half the night later, he had gotten Toothless to completely stop snoring.

He finished up his drawing, smiling while tears rolled down his face. He would do anything to turn back time and be with Toothless all the time again. He started drawing Toothless again and again on his new sheets of paper, not wanting him to ever forget who Toothless was ever again. As he drew more and more tears dripped onto the papers, staining them and marking them with the pain he felt inside. Hiccup fully withdrew into himself, not knowing any form of time. He knew that forgetting Toothless would be him leaving Toothless behind in his past. He would draw and draw, eventually stopping to pin a stack of drawings onto the wall. He felt with each drawing he drew, he could feel Toothless materializing next to him. First, it was a presence behind him, then he could see him out of the corner of his eyes. As Toothless materialized more and more in the room, Hiccup began feeling more and more happier, remembering back to the old times, when he and Toothless were unstoppable, inseparable, and invincible. Back when the two were free and carefree. Back when they were one. Back when they could fuse together as one being. Back when they were Toothless and Hiccup, dragon and rider, Night Fury and Viking, the heroes and saviors, the great unstoppable force. Back when they were friends.

Hiccup felt the rage inside him disperse and he felt fatigue overtake him. As his flurry of drawing ran out of fuel, his stack of paper also began to run dry. First ten sheets left, then five sheets, three sheets, one sheet, until he finally ran out. He looked at the empty desk in front of him. He looked over to "Toothless". he was laying on his rock sleeping. But as he watched him purr pleasantly, he could see the illusion dissipate. First, he lost his wings, then his tail, then he lost his paws and torso. He faded until all that was left was Toothless's friendly face staring at him with sadness. Hiccup felt the pain grow inside him as he saw Toothless dissipate into his imagination, he lunged at Toothless's disappearing shadow. As he reached Toothless, Toothless's last features disappeared leaving Hiccup to slam down onto the rock and lay on the rock, thinking once again about his feelings. The candles went out. In his crazed state, he had forgotten to refill the candle and trim the wicks, causing the candles to burn out. He waved his hands to have Toothless relight them but realized he wasn't here and he felt a pang of guilt and pain. Hiccup looked out his window to see what time it was. Instead of seeing the moon, he saw a rising sun, signifying the night had passed. Hiccup groaned from the pain in his ribs and fell asleep on the hard surface of his friend's bed.

Hiccup woke up lying on the hard surface of the rock listening to the loud yells combating each other for his attention outside. He looked around, surveying his surroundings, looking at his now chaotic room. Drawings hung from every available spot, covering his now burnt out candles, covering every inch of his floor, somehow a few ended on the ceiling above, and most had fallen to the ground and even on top of his body. He shook pages of paper of his body as he carefully stood up, not stepping on a single sheet. All of the drawings were mere sketches and rough drafts, just a jumble of lines. But some stood out, he could spot a few colored ones, colored in by the rudimentary dye powders he developed. He could see a few drawn with the coal ink he made by grinding coal and mixing it with sludge or water. He could see a few darker lined ones, drawn as black as Toothless's scales. He sat back down looking at all the memories of his brother, his pet, his dragon, his family, his Toothless. He felt the pain and sorrow bottled up inside of him leaking out, but instead of it drowning him in sadness, it hissed out like a Hideous Zippleback's gas as it attacks. He feels the midday breeze blow the gas away as it dissolved leaving Hiccup feeling at peace and sober. Hiccup lets his sadness go and lets Toothless go free. He knows it doesn't mean he won't miss him and he doesn't want him back, it just means he can move on with his life and stop mourning Toothless.

Hiccup is snapped out of his trance by a loud rapping on his door downstairs. He launches into action, hastily piling all the paper back into stacks, but taking care to not damage a single one too much. If the villagers saw the mess, he would never be respected. He hears his door downstairs being forced open by what sounds like a Viking tackling it, good thing he dragon-proofed it a long time ago. He gets half the room cleared and reverted to normal as he hears a chorus of realization as they realize, he thinks, that the door is reinforced. He cleans up the ink and colored powders as he reaches his desk. He can hear dragons roaring as, he suspects, they help their owners barge down the door. He can hear blasts and cracks as the dragons attack the door. He is almost done when he hears someone, probably Gobber, shaking a key ring, and someone starting to unlock the door. He has fixed his bed as he hears Vikings yelling at each other on how to unlock the door until he hears his heavy lock click. He admits that Vikings aren't extremely bright. He is picking up the final drawings when he hears the door finally being pulled open. He made the door pull open instead of push open, causing the Vikings a great deal of trouble until Astrid showed them the concept. He is stacking the last drawings until one catches his eye, it is both well drawn and well colored. He hears Vikings storming his living room as they debate how to find his room, interrupted by an audibly annoyed Astrid walking into the room. The drawing is a female Night Fury, pretty much Toothless but with female features. He pockets the drawing inside his journal for later reference. He decided that the Vikings can't know that he was sleeping until noon, and he reaches the door as he hears Vikings storming his stairs. He dives into the hallway and rolls into the bathroom, kicking the door closed. The Vikings can be heard storming his room as fists pound the bathroom door. "Let us in!", a voice called in. Hiccup took out the Dragon Blade, and pulled out a flask of concentrated Monstrous Nightmare saliva, pretending to fill up the sword's supply. "Come on in guys!"

Vikings surged into the room and immediately froze, noticing the flask. They knew what was inside and it's properties. They remembered the last time a Viking spilled the saliva after it was concentrated for Hiccup. He had gone to collect some eggs and saliva for the new dragon riders. But he tripped over a baby Gronkle and fell into a cauldron of the concentrated saliva. The man had been followed by a storm of Nightmares for a month. They were extremely protective, growling and flaming at anyone who tried to approach. They even followed the man to his home and waited as he slept. He sneaked away whenever possible, but they could smell him from miles away. He was avoided by the village the whole month and food was given to him by leaving it at a nearby table for him to take after the giver backed away. The saliva was also extremely sticky and stringy, even after washing away most of it, the man stuck to most things like grass, dust, and dirt. He gave up on showering the whole month. The man had left in a voluntary exile and came back dirty and tired a week later after the effects wore off. The villagers decided to never do that again and not even risk testing more dragon saliva.

The Vikings backed out of the room, "Okay, you seem fine, we're going to let you do that okay?" Hiccup held the saliva as tightly as he could trying not to drop it, "Okay, if you guys are leaving so early." The Vikings ran down the stairs and back out, he heard them yelling at the others and spreading rumors about how brave and good of a chief he was for getting and handling concentrated Nightmare saliva all by himself. Hiccup carefully capped the flask and let out a sigh of relief after it was safely tucked away. Astrid walked in, trying to appear stern, "Really?!?" Hiccup laughed, knowing Astrid was smarter and saw right through his trick. "Really?!? Hiccup, come on! Help me out here!" Astrid broke down into a stream of laughter. Hiccup laughed at his craftiness and luck, "What I was 'heroically handling the saliva' right?" He was quoting one of the fleeing Viking yells. Astrid punched his shoulder, "That's for leaving me to deal with those lunatics all alone for the morning." She grabbed his hair and twisting and pulling it, putting Hiccup in a headlock, "This is for you not telling me the truth." Hiccup countered her move, escaping her grasp with a move that she had taught him just last week. Astrid was making him learn close combat so he could fight without using dragons, "I surrender. I was going to tell you anyways." Hiccup smiled innocently. Astrid was pleased, she grabbed his arm and pulled him downstairs, "You can tell me as I get us breakfast." Hiccup rolled his eyes, that just meant she was going to raid his kitchen for both of them. After Astrid had given each of them breakfast, Hiccup told Astrid what happened last night. Hiccup thought it was embarrassing and shameful but Astrid was completely interested. After finishing their small breakfast or lunch, they headed out to start dealing with Berk's problems. Astrid struck up the conversation first, "So you spent the whole night drawing pictures of Toothless?" Hiccup awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Yeah... I guess you could call it that." Hiccup remembered the special drawing, he pulled it out of his journal, "I found this in the pile of the last drawings." He gave it to Astrid as he turned away to help a man find his helmet which was hanging off the back of his belt. Astrid studied the drawing, "Wait, is this a female Night Fury?" Hiccup shrugged, "I think so, I already told you, I was kind of delusional last night so I don't remember." Astrid grabbed Hiccup by his shoulders, turning him to face her, "Hiccup you can't just shrug this off, you said you were delusional or like dreaming as you drew right?" Hiccup considered this, "Well, I guess it was like dreaming. It felt as real as dreaming and was as fictional as dreaming too." Astrid shook Hiccup, "Stay focused! If you were dreaming that means that you couldn't have consciously designed these features and these features couldn't have been morphed from human faces." Hiccup saw the breakthrough, "Meaning I've either seen or heard her described before!" Astrid laughed and teased him, punching his shoulder, "So you're not a complete failure after all! You found Toothless a mate somewhere." Hiccup froze.

"Oh no, Toothless, I'm supposed to be back at Dragon's Den by now!" Hiccup broke away from Astrid ran down to the docks, knocking over Eburwin, who was loading up weapons onto a boat for a fishing and hunting expedition. Astrid raced to catch with him and caught his shirt to hold him back, "Hiccup you can't leave now..." HIccup was aggravated, "Why?!?! Huh?!?! Why not Astrid?!?" Hiccup snapped at her, mad at her for stopping him and mad at himself for being so forgetful and being so confused. Astrid recoiled, she was a fearless warrior and an excellent fighter, but she wasn't used to being on Hiccup's bad side, especially now that she knew his softer and kinder side. Astrid backed away from him, "Can't you see it Hiccup?!? Toothless leaving is tearing you apart! You need to decide, to follow Toothless or follow the Vikings, we can't have a chief who is gone half the time. Either let Toothless go or let the Vikings go." She turned way from him and walked away, "You're just holding us back. You and Toothless are the rope holding two worlds from drifting apart. You're not going to win, Hiccup. Either let go of one or you'll be the one who needs help." She marched up the slope, leaving Hiccup with mixed emotions. He looked at the boats, Toothless had the right to know and it was important to Hiccup that he helped Toothless. He looked at the Vikings, milling around doing their jobs. But Astrid was right, he was a chief now and a chief looks out for his own. He sighed, turning his back to the boats, he swore to himself that he would make things right again between the Vikings and the dragons. He didn't know how but he was going to do it somehow. He jogged up the slope and into his house, looking for peace and quiet to sort out the situation.

Hiccup yawned as he walked back to his home. He has spent the whole afternoon running around town helping Vikings and resolving problems. He just wanted to change into more comfortable clothes and jump into bed and sleep. He does. He goes home, has some dinner, changes and successfully falls asleep. Does he stay asleep? No, but he did fall asleep. (Writer here: I wanted to test a different writing style for bits of pieces that didn't need to be detailed like this. How do you guys feel about this?) He awakens to the sound of shouting and clambering, he listens until he hears a sound too familiar, yet out of place now. He hears the familiar twang of net launchers. He remembers Toothless's fall and he feels determined to change the Vikings. He grabs his Dragon Blade and charges into the battlefield.

And he finds a scene not expected at all. He thought he would see dragons and Vikings brawling and fighting over food in a "friendly" skirmish. He is presented with a full on war instead. He ducks as fire rains on him as a Nightmare flies past torching a roof. Luckily, the fire is quickly put out by the fire extinguishing team and system as they rush to the fire's site. He surveys the damage as he heads into the fight to earn his title as Chief. He sees fire dotting the village, but they are beaten down by the fire crew and the fire prevention systems. Hiccup instinctively ducks and rolls as a dragon, a Hideous Zippleback, releases its deadly gas above him and ignites it. The ignition knocks Hiccup off into a wall and incapacitates his vision. As he uses his hands to clear his vision, he comes to an astonishing conclusion. The fire team is more effective than the Vikings at fighting the dragons. By stemming the fires as they escaped the dragon's throats, they managed to extinguish many dragon's fires. As one by one, the dragons flew away, their flames defeated, the Vikings gained the upper hand, pushing the remaining ones back. He headed into the battle bravely on the front lines and fought off many dragons, from vicious storms of Terrible Terrors to large lumbering Gronkles. He was sure that his village would be proud of him. He could see Skullcrusher leading Berk's dragons, threatening the dragons and intimidating many enough to fly away. He glances out at the bay as the dragons retreated back to the vast night sky. He caught sight of a mountain in the distance where the retreating dragons were heading to, he made note of its position to investigate further.

"Night Fury!" Hiccup looked up expecting Toothless to tackle him to the floor and pin him there, eager to meet his rider after helping him fight off dragons. He instead sees the remnants of a ballast launcher raining upon him. He dived out of the way of a wooden beam that threatened to crush him. Again and again, the shots came, first it was a statue, then a roof, and then several Vikings. Chaos ensued. Vikings clambered to dropped shields and the protection of underground cellars. Within a minute the village road was deserted after all the Vikings had taken defensive positions under covers, leaving Hiccup sprawled on the ground and a prime target for the Fury. The Night Fury turned and shot at Hiccup. Hiccup had been counting the shots and knowing the dragon was out of shots, turned and started running. He would not have long, a Night Fury recharges quickly. He turned to face the Fury, who was nowhere in sight. Hiccup looked all around, hoping to find a clue. Hiccup turned back to the sea, hoping to catch a sight of the Fury. But the Fury had totally disappeared. Hiccup noticed that the mountain had also disappeared, nowhere to be seen. Hiccup feared the worse.

The next day's meeting in the Mead Hall was disaster, questions were flung at Hiccup from everyone, from the elders to the young kids, from across the room to the person next to him, easy questions like "What happened?" to harder ones like "Where did all the dragons go?". After an hour of handing out repair jobs and giving families what they needed to survive the week, they moved onto the important issue of dealing with the problem. The village was split, but not in two, that'll be too easy, they'd just fight it out, but they were split into four different opinions. The first group was optimistic, they thought this was a one-time thing and the dragons were strangers to the area, they suggested not to retaliate. The second group was more sensible, they believed it could happen again and the dragons were desperate, they suggested to just upgrade the dragon defenses. The third group was looking at the darker side, this group of dragons were hostile and raids were going to be common now, they suggested to retaliate and wipe out the threat now. The last group were the flat out pessimists, they believed this was Toothless's nest and they were turning traitors, using their human knowledge to expose the human's weaknesses. They wanted to go to Dragon's Den and kill the dragons once and for all. Hiccup was torn between his loyalty to Toothless, his hope for peace, his duty to protect Berk, and his fondness of dragons. After an afternoon of debating in the form of insults and fist fights, Hiccup had made a "suitable" conclusion. They would make Berk stronger and defend from dragons no matter the cost, the Dragon's Den would be spared but any and all dragons flying near Berk were to be reported and watched with extreme care, and finally a scouting party would be sent to follow the retreated dragons and count them to consider their ability to either retaliate or pacify the new group.

The plan was initiated and Hiccup oversaw that everything went well. But Hiccup needed answers. He talked to Astrid, "Hey, can you watch Berk? I need to go somewhere." Astrid criticized him, "Somewhere? So you're going back to the Den." Hiccup laughed uncomfortably, "Um... Yeah?" Astrid rested a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "Don't worry, I understand. I'll cover for you. But be careful, if the Vikings found out, you might be exiled." She searched his eyes for regret or doubt, upon finding none she sighed, "Just be careful okay? Say hi to Toothless for me?" Hiccup grinned, "Of course! Bye,Astrid!" He rushed out the door. Astrid sighed, "Why did I ever think Hiccup was going to be a good boyfriend?" She headed out to break up the many fights that had occurred just within a minute.

Hiccup watched as the scouting party left. After they disappeared from sight, he crept down to the docks under the moonlight, finding his boat and untying it from the docks. He was about to set off when he heard a grunt. Thinking he'd been caught, Hiccup bolted. He felt something tackle him pinning him. Knowing what was going to happen, Hiccup waited for the Viking to expose his plan to the village. Instead, a large tongue licked his hair. He strained to look at the dragon on him. It was Skullcrusher, who was staring curiously at him. "Can you get off me?" Skullcrusher stepped off. "Thanks, buddy, I got to go though okay?" He sprinted onto the boat and pushed off. "Bye!" He turned to steer the boat out of the harbor. He heard wings flapping and then the boat sank noticeably in the water. He turned around, "Um, Skullcrusher can you leave?" Skullcrusher was perched on the ship's deck, he purred and sat down, clearly saying no. Hiccup was about to refuse but didn't after realizing that a dragon is helpful and he had no choice but to comply. He turned back away from Skullcrusher and set off into the dark expanse of the sea.

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She watched the man leave the bay as he set off with his dragon friend behind him. She could see the expression of sadness and confusion on his face. But she could also see his amusement and happiness that she could only assume came from his new adventure. She was immensely curious. She had never set eyes on such a village, one with dragons and Vikings, one with peace and harmony, one with no segregation and hard feelings between human and dragon. She sat watching the night from a nearby island, camouflaged by a large mountain to her back. She was here, admiring the ocean and its peacefulness. She was never a dragon of war and battle but she had been forced to fight by her king, her chief. She vowed that once she escaped him, she would return here to make up for the hurt that she had caused these people and all the other villages she had attacked. She was thankful for her black scales as she lifted off flying silently to follow the boat. She watched as the two "talked" to each other and how they interacted with both dragon and man being able to tell what each other meant, or at least something close. Although dragons understood human speech, they never grasped the harder aspects. She was disrupted by a voice, {Come back.} She turned back to the mountain where her chief lay waiting. He yelled in her head, warning her to never do that again, threatening her to stay near him. She landed in a cave where she knew the chief's rider stayed. She walked tentatively in, worried about what was about to happen. The man stood, with his back to her, over a large book that she knew was a map of all the places he had gone. He paid no attention to her. She stood there waiting for his orders. He commanded her without even looking, "Follow them. Report back." He continued talking and she couldn't understand, but she knew what he was talking about, he meant the man and the dragon.

 

The man returned to his easier to understand commands, "Follow them, when they stop, kill them." She was shocked. She showed her disapproval by defiantly roaring at the man. The man was clearly outraged at her rebuttal but he didn't turn to her, "Do it or your whole family is dead." Now it was her time to be enraged, she charged a plasma blast and shot it at him. The man was unimpressed. He used his cloak to block the shot, making the shot dissipate on the black scales of the cloak. He turned finally to face her, "No one attacks Drago Bludvist!" He swiped at her with his spear, forcing her to jump away. His left arm was wrapped in a cloth and hooked around his neck. He had lost his fake arm after falling into the ocean after his battle with Hiccup and Toothless. During his hurry to escape from the water and from Berk, he had also ended up breaking his left forearm. He pressed his cloak on her snout. "Don't forget what happened to your father when he challenged me!" She recoiled from the offending cloak. She sprints out of the cave and launches into the air flying away. She remembers what happened to her father years ago when Drago had found their family. She remembers being forced into slavery and the terrible things she had done to survive under Drago Bludvist's control. She thinks of the faith of the two that she is following. If she wasn't a dragon and she could cry, she is sure that her tears would be raining onto the ocean below. She considers flying away and warning the two of the danger that is coming, but no sooner than does the thought passes through her mind, a terrible pain grows inside her head. She loses control of her wings and plunges towards the ocean, falling to her doom. {Don't even think about it.} The pain stops and she regains control of her wings just before the two in the boat notice her. She recalls why she hasn't escape before. As long as she is in control of the Alpha, the Alpha can read her thoughts and induce pain on her to control her. She reluctantly follows the pair as the sun dawns on a new day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hop you enjoyed this chapter! I haven't been getting any comments so far. If you actually finished reading all three chapters, can you please leave a comment? It would really help encourage me to write this story and continue it. I'm hoping this story will have at least 10 chapters, maybe even 15 chapters. I am still figuring out a good length for chapters, and a good writing format. Do you guys want a lot of short paragraphs, or less longer paragraphs. The first chapter are long paragraphs. The second chapter were shorter ones. This chapter was a mix of the two.


	5. A New Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the dragons face trouble, arguments begin and restlessness spreads. Hiccup and Skullcrusher search for answers followed by a guest. But then things take a turn and everyone must consider their morals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really fun for me. Tell me if you want me to change my writing style and I will. I am currently writing all of this without a plan, if you guys have any ideas, I am pretty sure I can fit your ideas into the story. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

_TOOTHLESS/HICCUP/???_

 

Toothless was panicking. He was running around the Den looking for Cloudjumper. He thought that Cloudjumper had left until he found him sitting with Black Fire on the beach talking. Although he didn't want to annoy them and disrupt them, he felt he was obliged to for the reason he had. Toothless ran across the beach, kicking up sand and flinging it everywhere. Toothless hated running on sand, at least some always got in his eyes. Toothless yelled once he saw the two look in his direction, hearing his loud sprint across the sand, [Cloudjumper and Black Fire, I need your help!!!] Cloudjumper sighed obviously annoyed at having his evening disrupted, [Toothless, I'm sure you can handle it.] Toothless reached them, blinking and winking, irritated at the sand in his eyes, [No, I'm pretty sure I can't.] He rubbed his eyes with his paws, getting the majority out, [This is a serious problem.] Black Fire was more concerned, [What is it Toothless?] Toothless finally got the final grains of sand out of his eyes using the ridges on his paw, [We're missing dragons.] Cloudjumper sighed, [Did you check the caves?] Toothless was annoyed by Cloudjumper's lack of faith, [Yes, and I checked the cavern too.] Cloudjumper listed off several more places, [How about their nests, their perches, the status of their trips, their friends, and their hangouts.] Toothless was certain he was correct, [Yes, yes, yes, and yes. I asked their friends, they haven't heard from them in a while.] Cloudjumper was more concerned now, [Okay, this is concerning... Which dragons are we missing?] Toothless listed off a long list of dragons, [Lavapit, Sharpine, Burrowian, Red Spines and Green Spines, Mosseater, Fishchaser...] He spent the whole minute naming off names. Cloudjumper was shocked, [How did no one notice this until today, they couldn't have all gone missing last night.] Toothless shook his head, [That's the thing, they did. They had all just finished missions and returned. Everyone was getting caught up and talking so we know they were here yesterday morning. Everyone was here this morning except the dragons on missions who all returned today.]

Black Fire asked a question, [What if they decided to leave and go on a midnight flight and just aren't back yet?] Toothless and Cloudjumper shook their heads, [We allow those, but we do force everyone to check in with the dragons who are on guard that night. So if you did want to, there would be no reason to go secretly, we allow our dragons their freedom.] Black Fire nodded, [I understand, then they must have gotten taken against their will...] Toothless agreed, [They must have, but even so our guards would have seen any incoming threats. So when?] Cloudjumper spoke, [Well, there's a whole afternoon that's unaccounted for, they could have flown off during that time without anyone noticing.] Toothless sighed, [Maybe, just maybe.] Suddenly a Nightmare came flying towards them, he landed and bowed, [Alpha, we need you at the Den. Good to see you still here, Cloudjumper and Black Fire.] Both Cloudjumper and Black Fire greeted the Nightmare, [Hello, Snapflare.] [It's good to meet you, Snapflare.] Toothless turned to Snapflare, [Always good to see you my friend, what's the problem? Stand up straight.] Snapflare relaxed, [We found a body, a dragon body.] Black Fire gasped. Toothless sighed sadly, [Not to be insensitive, but you've dealt with corpses before. This is not the first time a dragon has fallen onto our doorstep dead.] Snapflare nodded, [True, but not a corpse like this.] Toothless was curious, [Is it a new species?] Snapflare shook his head, [No, it's... well... it's Bladeguard's body. You need to get back to the Den everyone is bickering and accusing each other of murder.] Toothless gasped and turned to Cloudjumper, [Has this happened before?] Cloudjumper shook his head in shock, [No... never before.] Toothless called the dragons to follow him as he soared over the surface of the beach, heading towards the Den in the distance.

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Hiccup woke up with a pounding headache, sitting up on the boat's cot as he tried to identify his surroundings. The night slowly came back to him as he remembered his mission. It had been weeks since his escape from Berk and his quest for understanding. He tried to stand up, but crumbled to his knees the second his feet hit the floor. He remembered the storm near midnight and the scrambling he had done trying to stay afloat. He had hit his head on a wildly flying piece of driftwood and Skullcrusher had managed to stuff him inside his cot as Skullcrusher returned outside to save the ship. Hiccup got up off the floor as his headache started to recede. He had to go find Skullcrusher. He stumbled outside, walking drunkenly aboard the rocking boat. _Ugh, why does this hurt so much? I've never had one this bad._ He stumbled onto the deck, gripping the post for support. He looked around, shielding his eyes from the morning sun. He saw Skullcrusher sleeping on a platform of barrels and crates, trying to stay dry and warm on the wet deck. He looked around trying to find out where he was. Judging from the hot weather and the lack of ice, he guessed that he was further south. He carefully pulled out his journal and opened up his map, trying to identify landmarks on the map and nearby. He spotted an island nearby and decided to try and dock there to avoid drifting even further off course. After an hour of resting and rowing, he managed to beach the ship on the shore of the island. Skullcrusher, who was awake by now, helped lift Hiccup off the ship and onto the island where Hiccup just lay, trying to make his headache go away. He laid there for a while until his head cleared enough for him to think and move around. He had to find out where he was so he could either get back home or find Toothless.

Hiccup began scanning the island for dragons or landmarks that would tell him where he was. He was confident he was still on the map and that he could find his bearings if he figured out which island this was. Skullcrusher was flying around looking for food and stretching his wings, so Hiccup left and began exploring the island. He found many signs of dragons but he couldn't find the dragons that caused them. Hiccup stumbled through the forest when his pain disappeared, "Wow, that went away fast." Hiccup felt strangely curious. His feet were drawn in a direction, he didn't know what made him walk that way but he didn't question it. Hiccup was worried about the dark sky and ran quickly through the forest trying to find a suitable place to rest and hide without danger of being attacked. He continued in the direction he initially chose. He would have to find his way back the next morning. All of a sudden, Hiccup went flying and fell sprawled across the ground. He tripped over a vine and it looked like he sprained his ankle. Hiccup knew he needed to find shelter soon or else he would be stuck here. Hiccup couldn't walk by the time he spotted the cave in the side of a cliff, he grabbed a stick to use as a cane. Not caring what lay inside, Hiccup lit his dragon sword and stumbled inside, hoping to recover and continue his mission to find the island's dragons.

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She felt bad for the young man, she saw how he had bravely fought the treacherous waves as the water pounded his ship throughout the night. He was called Hiccup, from what she could tell during when Drago was cursing his name. She witnessed him getting knocked out by the broken piece of wood and saw the Rumblehorn pushing him into a room to protect him. She watched as the dragon scooped up barrels and barrels of water, carefully trying not to break the barrels with his strength, and dumped it over the edge back into the sea. She watched his valiant effort to keep the ship afloat, but the water was filling the ship too fast for the dragon to empty out. Just when she thought the ship was lost, she decided to help. She silently landed on the far end of the ship, trying to stabilize herself amid the rocking and strong wind. She used low power bursts of plasma to covert the water into steam while causing minimal damage to the ship. The water was quickly depleted and the Rumblehorn kept the ship dry as the storm lightened up. The dragon finished the final barrels of water and content with his work, laid down on a pile of barrels to finally fall asleep. She flew off and landed on a nearby tiny island, remembering how the man and the dragon kept each other company. She smiled as she remembered how the two were so happy together.

She woke and saw "Hiccup" already rowing the ship toward a proper island in the distance. She stretched her wings and followed the ship. {The time has come.} She knew that her Alpha was speaking to her in her head. She showed her refusal by forcing the Alpha out of her head. All of a sudden, her wings went limp and she began to fall down into the sea. {Don't forget what I can do.} She felt her control slowly return and she beat her wings at the water, pushing her up and away from the dangerous waves. She reluctantly landed on a small rocky ledge as she watched the boy begin to shuffle through the forest. Hours passed as she jumped from ledge to ledge, watching "Hiccup" through the trees above him. {I called in some help for you.} She scanned the sky expecting a team of dragon approaching to help her. Instead she found nothing. She watched as the Viking suddenly changed course and quickly ran away. She followed him, jumping for ledge to ledge and flying when she had to. She lost sight of him for a second but when she saw him again she could see him limping and leaning on a stick for support as he hobbled into a cave. She was watching the Viking intently when she heard a flurry of wings behind her. She twirled around and charged up a plasma blast.

[Hey Rednight, calm down!], the dragon, a Changewing, quickly scurried away blending in with the mountain under him. She sighed, remembering the name she was stuck with, [What are you doing here Nightchanger?] When Drago's dragons had found her, the only thing they could see was her red bright eyes in the cave, hence her name Rednight, very creative. Her closest friend, Nightchanger, was found with her, when they approached her, Nightchanger had jumped out attacking and startling many of the dragons. They couldn't see him on her because his camouflage made him as black as her scales. Nightchanger smiled, [Just catching up on my old friend, who never has time to talk or write to me.] She chuckled, [One, I have no idea where you are half the time to talk. Two, dragons can't write, and three, you are the one who never has time for me, I always have time.] Nightchanger laughed, [Really? Well I must have forgot!] Her Alpha jumped in with his own statement, {I thought you could use the company.} She smiled, although her Alpha was demanding and had an evil master, she knew that deep down her Alpha was a gentle Alpha, one who wanted to rule dragons peacefully. One day, she vowed she would free the Alpha from Drago's control. Rednight was done messing around and got down to business, [So why are we here?] Nightchanger frowned, [Well from what I heard from the Alpha, we're supposed to kill our target. Don't worry, I've lured him inside that cave with my hypnosis. He's just in there resting right now.] Nightchanger shifted uncomfortably, [The Alpha also said for me to lure him in but not kill him, he told me to let you kill him.] Rednight shuddered, she hated her job, [Don't worry, I've prepared for this.] Nightchanger nodded, [Okay, if you're sure, I've kept him hypnotized, he should be cooperative for you when you go in.] Rednight grimly nodded, [Thanks, Nightchanger.]

The gathered clouds above her started raining as she lands at the cave's mouth, preparing to finish her mission. She wanted to turn back and run away, but she knew her Alpha would punish her greatly. If the Alpha's dragons didn't obey, he received severe punishments from Drago. She knew the Alpha was waiting for confirmation that she completed the task. She didn't want to risk lying and endangering her and anyone one close to her if the Alpha could sense the truth behind the lie. As she stepped in, she could hear Nightchanger rustling in the trees behind her. She entered the cave, her steps making noises on the hard stone. She could hear Hiccup humming as he leaned against the cave wall, waiting for morning so he could return home. The two locked eyes. For a second, she thought he was going to fight back but the Viking eventually turned away, clearly not seeing her as he looked right at her. She took a moment to think about what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. She was going to kill an innocent Viking, who is handicapped, an important ambassador between dragons and humans, the hero who set all the enslaved dragons free from Drago, and the only human to tame a Night Fury. Now how she was going to it, she is going to blast him from pointblank range, as he is vulnerable and has no way to fight back, while he is on the floor, and after he has been hypnotized into submission. She couldn't imagine a worse way to go. She gets ready to kill the man as humanely as possible. She hears a warning from Nightchanger, [Watch out Rednight, I lost him! There's someone else here!]

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 _Ugh!_ Hiccup couldn't think of anything worse than waking up after falling asleep with a killer headache. He rethinks that as he opens his eyes, _Nope, Nothing could be worse than waking up with a killer headache in a strange cave with a dragon mouth bearing down on me._ As he was contemplating his possibilities and his chances for survival, the dragon turned and ran away out of the cave. He took the opportunity to jump up and stumble to his dropped sword, which he lit to see in the dark cave. As the light bounced off the wet walls and ceiling, a Changewing scrambled into the cave. Hiccup tried to get up and defend himself but he couldn't. Sure that he was doomed, Hiccup mumbled some prayers and waited for his fate. But the Changewing kept going, it fled into the deep recesses of the cave, out of sight. Hiccup was surprised with his luck. As he gripped the cave wall pulling himself up, he heard thunderous roars coming from outside. He could hear dragons fighting outside but he felt useless as he sat, crippled on the floor, overwhelmed by the pain coming from his head. He was able to crawl and force himself to a spot where he could see some of the fight outside. Although his sword kept the cave lit and bright, outside it was dark and gloomy as it rained on the two dragons, struggling to gain the upper hand. Although he couldn't see the shapes clearly, he hoped and assumed that one of the shapes was Skullcrusher, fighting off his attackers. He had no idea what the other could be. The dragon jumped nimbly away from his attacker as he dodged the dragon's charges. The dragon obviously wasn't a Hideous Zippleback and he was sure it wasn't a Nightmare or else he would be dead by now. It was too big to be a Deadly Nadder or a Gronkle, and seeing the Changewing flee from the battle convinced him that is wasn't a Changewing. All of a sudden, one of the dragons made a fatal mistake. It rammed into its opponent, only to miss and hit the mountainside. Using the dragon's sudden loss of balance, the unknown dragon flipped its opponent away and blasted, now clear, Skullcrusher into the cave wall using bursts of plasma, hitting Skullcrusher's neck, torso, and head on several large boulders and rocks, knocking the larger dragon out. After seeing the dragon's fire, Hiccup was convinced. He had found the second Night Fury, only this Night Fury was a bit less friendly.

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She advanced on the man, who was still trying to get up, obviously still reeling from the hard impact last night and his newer instant of being hypnotized. She watched as Nightchanger came crawling quietly out of the cave, fleeing into the trees leaving and waiting for Rednight to her work. She could hear Hiccup's dragon getting up and regaining consciousness. The man gave one last attempt to defend himself, bringing the sword up in front him. Not wanting to have to worry about the man attacking, she quickly swatted the sword out of his hands and away from the pair. She watched as he recognized his defeat and turned away from him, looking at the ground in defeat. She prepared to kill the man when he moved his hand. Worried about a new threat she recoiled from him, ready to strike back. But the man was holding nothing, his palm facing her while the man looked down in defeat. Or was it defeat, she thought, could the man still be undefeated? Not wanting to waste time, she quickly charged up a plasma blast planning to blast the man into ashes. His dragon, now conscious but still injured, stumbled over to the man and lay down in front of him, wrapping the man with his tail and doing his best to protect him. She knew her plasma blast would easily kill them both, he couldn't stop anything. But she hesitated, she whimpered and closed her mouth. It reminded her of something she saw years ago. She purred at the pair wrapped up in each other and left, leaving the two in the cave to heal. She remembered her childhood, when her dad was still alive and when he died.

\--------------------

Hiccup woke up stuck underneath Skullcrusher, who was currently snoring on top of him. As Hiccup slowly shimmied himself out from under Skullcrusher, he tried to remember what happened last night. He had brief flashes of memory but the overall night was blurry. He remembered stumbling into the forest and taking shelter inside a cave to hide from the Changewing he saw. He remembered being approached by a dragon and Skullcrusher rushing in to fight the dragon, distracting it from Hiccup. He remembered Skullcrusher jumping upon Hiccup to protect him as the dragon was about to kill him. Hiccup couldn't remember what happened or who the dragon was, but he did know that the dragon defeated them and they were at its mercy last night. But for some unknown reason, the dragon had left them alone after getting the Changewing out of the cave, who probably entered the cave at some point. Hiccup thought he saw the two dragons fly away after roaring at each other a bit but he wasn't sure. Hiccup picked up his sword that was still on the cave's stone floor. He hobbled out of the cave, looking for clues from last night and a way back to the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you enjoy? Leave a comment down below if you did. You can suggest helpful criticism. Any unhelpful criticism or straight up unfair comments will be ignored. If you really hate my writing, then change my writing by telling me your idea instead of yelling unhelpful things. I have been adding OC's to the story and I plan to add many more but the naming convention has been annoying me. HTTYD seems to pick names that reflect a dragon's personality and abilities, for example, Toothless, no teeth, Cloudjumper flies through the clouds, Hookfang has hooked claws, and Stormfly is pretty obvious. Do you want me to stick with these name types or go for more original names?


	6. The Past of Rainchanger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we learn about Rednnight's past and her relationship with Drago. We learn about her friends and families and how they were effected when Drago came. We also see how Rainchanger deals with Drago after her betrayal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last one was a bit shorter than I wanted it to be but I felt that this story would go better in its own chapter. I promise I'll go back to longer chapters soon. !!!This chapter does include some character deaths!!!

_REDNIGHT_

 

She remembered her, her brother, and her widower dad. She had lost her mom, Rednight, years ago in a vicious storm, separating her whole family. She and her dad, Shadowknight, had found each other still alive. Her mom was found a week later, killed in a rock slide when she had taken cover in a mountain gully. Her dad had cremated her while she returned home. The two spent some time mourning her death until they were driven by hunger and thirst to move on. She remembered the years they lived peacefully after that, on the island with their friends and flock mates. She remembered playing with the other children, training and fighting to get prepared for their future battles. She remembered the lessons her dad taught her and the stories he would tell her. He taught who to trust and who not to trust, he told her stories of humans and their terrible deeds and told her stories of peace between humans and dragons. But she never believed him, she always thought it was her dad being creative, she wanted to see the good in everything. Little did she know that places like that did exist. Their island was living in harmony for years before Drago Bludvist entered their world. She could still recall the first time she saw Drago. She was still young but she was already her full size, evident by the emergence of her last set of fins on her neck and chin. She was racing her little brother, who was about two years younger than her. He was small and slim just like any other Night Fury except for one thing. He was small, at her age she was already as big as a small Nightmare or a large Whispering Death, although he was two years younger, he was only as big as a Gronkle or a small Deadly Nadder. As she reached the peak first, easily using her larger wings to surpass him, she could see the ocean all around her island. Surveying the shorelines and enjoying the cool mountain breeze, she was truly happy. That was the last time that she could remember that she felt truly happy.

 

* * *

 

As she looked over the land and water that belonged to her flock, waiting for her brother to catch up, she saw a fleet of ships entering their territory. She watched eagerly, excited at the prospect of meeting her first humans. Her brother clambered onto the peak, exhausted at the climb, [You could've helped me you know!] She chuckled, [I know.] Her brother looked into the distance also, enjoying the clean and fresh air as he watched his friends playing in the clearing far down below, [Sister, can I go play with my friends now?] She rolled her eyes, [Stop. I'm just your sister, call me by name, Rainchanger, okay?] Her brother was already scampering down the rocky mountainside, [Sure thing, Sister.] She watched as her brother, Littlefury, flew from rock to rock as he decended. She turned her attention back to the ships. As the fleets got closer she could make out more and more ships, she was even more excited, thinking they were going to finally meet real humans. Then the situation took a turn for the worse. She saw as one of her flock mates flew away from the island towards the ships. Thinking she could meet the humans early, she followed him and set off. She had barely gotten over the water when the quick Nightmare in front of her was bound with nets of metal. She turned back and landed at her family's ledge. [Father! There are humans here and I don't think they're friendly.] Shadowknight walked out of the cave that they called their home and prepared to fly off to meet his other comrades, [Yes, the whole island knows and they're ready to fight. Come on, you're helping us.] Rainchanger blocked her father, [No, no I'm not, I don't want to do this!] Her father sighed but showed no signs of backing off, [We've been through this before. It is your duty to defend the flock and your family when the opportunity comes.] She pleaded with him, [But Father, do we have to do this with violence? Is there no way to make peace with them?] Her father was visibly irritated, [Rainchanger, I've told you, humans cannot coexist with dragons, it's either us or them. We cannot make peace with them, the only option is to fight for the right of survival.] She became angry at her dad, [Why are you so bent on fighting the humans? Can't we try making peace?!?] Shadowknight spread his wings, [Why are you so stubborn? Why can't you understand this like the other dragons? At least your brother understands.] With that, her father flew off into the now chaotic battle. She can't remember how long but they were eventually beaten back by the humans and most of their fighting forces had been captured. She was waiting on their ledge when her father landed awkwardly on the ledge, stained with blood and hobbling on a broken leg. Shadowknight stared at her with his red orange eyes, [Rainchanger, take your brother and go, we can't fight them, me and the rest of the fighters will keep them back as long as possible as you escape.]

Rainchanger protested, [No! I am going to fix this and I am going stop them, for my home! Peace is still possible.] Shadowknight stared her down, [No, you are not! Take your brother and leave, now!] Rainchanger shoved him away, [You can't make me!] She took off into the evening sky, flying towards the humans, stubbornly trying to talk the humans into peace. Shadowknight yelled after her as Littlefury chased after his sister through the forest, determined to help, [No, Rainchanger, you can't do this! Littlefury, come back here!] The two ignored their father's commands. She landed in a clearing near the beach the humans had built their camps on,  _Come on Rainchanger, you can do this, just believe in yourself_. As she was able to enter the camps, a rustling came from behind her. Spooked, she turned and began to charge a plasma blast. From the bushes and the brush, out tumbled her little brother, still too inexperienced to understand the concept of silence, [Hey Sis- Rainchanger, what are you doing?] Rainchanger shushed him and looked worriedly at the human's camp, [You're going to get us caught! Go back to Father.] She wasn't prepared for this, her brother was another target and someone that she had to protect. Littlefury growled discontentedly, [But I want to help!] Rainchanger shook her head and pushed him away from the camps, [Nope, not this time, go back to our cave, I'll be back soon.] As her brother started to sadly walk back home, a team of humans jumped out of the bushes and trees, surrounding both dragons while they were arguing. At the sight of the hostile humans, Rainchanger panics, dropping all plans for diplomacy and peace, she blasts a section of the quickly tightening circle, [Quick Littlefury, run!!!] Her brother is in action quickly, reflexes enhanced by his adrenaline, weaving and dodging the humans' swords, using his small size to his advantage. He was doing well, making it outside the circle, making several soldiers chase after him. Rainchanger pushed back her captors with her tail and with small bursts of plasma. All of a sudden, she watched as a dragon ascended onto her brother. It was her father, coming to protect his son and daughter, always serving his role as the hero in the shadows. Her father yelled at her, [Try and fight your way over here!] She slowly moved towards her father as she swept her attackers away with her tail. All of a sudden, a voice sounded through the forest, "Stop!" Rainchanger stared tensely at the soldiers as she was peacefully left to walk over to her dad's side. They heard a sound from behind them. Turning simultaneously, father and daughter began plasma blasts to challenge the threat. Out from the tree's shadows came a men with a mechanical arm standing under a tattered robe flying behind him. He pointed at them, "You will help me!" Rainchanger, stubborn as always, conversed with the man, "You are a bad human! You hurt my friends!" She had spent her whole life preparing her vocal chords for this moment, this moment to talk to men. The man had no reaction, leading her to think she failed. Then the man responded, "You can speak, I am  impressed." Rainchanger smiled at her father happy to be proven correct, "Yes, I do. What do you want?" The man spread his arms, "I want this. I want you. With you and your family, we can achieve world..." The man continued, but Rainchanger couldn't understand. She interrupted the man, "I do not know what you are saying. Use easier words." The man was irritated, "I am Drago Bludvist. I want power. I want you to help me. I want your family to help me. With you, we can control all things." Rainchanger translated this to her dad, [He wants us to help him control everything.] Shadowknight was confused because he couldn't understand the words being exchanged but he was proud of his daughter, [Ask him how and why.] Rainchanger turned to the man, "Why do you want us? How can you do this?" Drago clenched his hand into a fist, "You are strong. Strongest ever. I lost my arm to dragons. I want to get revenge. I can make dragons bow to me and force them to follow me."

 

Rainchanger recoiled slightly, [He wants us to help get revenge on dragons for taking his arm. He wants us to bow down to him.] Her father nodded, [You know we cannot.] Rainchanger roared at Drago, "We do not need your help and we will not help you!" Drago solemnly shook his head and walked away. In that moment, Rainchanger was sure her family was safe, but her spirits fell as she heard Drago yell to his men, "Kill them!" The men around them advanced on them, tightening the already tight circle around them. They tried to defend themselves but they were exhausted from staying up and fighting throughout the night. As the dragons missed their attacks constantly, the human soldiers advanced closer to the dragons, slicing and stabbing with their sword and spears. Then, as her father pounced to strike an advancing soldier, a nearby soldier dove under him and stabbed his sword deep into Shadowknight's stomach. Littlefury dashed under his father snapping at the retreating soldier, trying to defend his father, but it was too late, as Littlefury was pushed back to her sister's side by the overwhelming number of spears and swords, her father crumpled to his knees as a net was thrown over him, keeping him on the ground. Again, right on time, Drago entered the clearing and addressed Rainchanger, "Join me and we will leave your family and your flock alone." Rainchanger was outraged at Drago's threats, "My flock will rescue us and fight against you, you will never be able to control us!" Drago shook his head, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you never learn do you, if you would follow me please?" Drago walked out of the clearing, stopping several feet inside the human's camp to wait for Rainchanger to follow him. Seeing that Drago wasn't going to leave without her, she headed out of the clearing, cautiously following Drago. Littlefury moved forward to follow Rainchanger, but several soldiers stepped into his path. blocking him inside the clearing. Drago continued walking and didn't even look back at Rainchanger, "Your brother will stay here. I'm sure you will not want you brother so see this."

Rainchanger looked back at her brother, but she decided to stay complaint since they were at Drago's mercy. Drago kept talking as they walked through the sandy camp, "I'm happy you left your brother behind, while we are here, your brother and father will not be further harmed, but if you cause trouble, I promise you that they will not be spared." Rainchanger growled at him, "What's stopping me from killing you right now? I can blast you before any of these men can stop me." Drago laughed, "In that case, you're right, but you might want to see this before you do that." Rainchanger knew she could always blast him later so she waited to see his "surprise". The two walked away from the camp and onto a path leading to a nearby stream where Rainchanger used to play when she was small. They exited the dense trees and stepped onto the riverbank. Rainchanger growled at the sight before her. Her whole flock was chained into cages that were on boats heading down the stream probably going to load the dragons onto a larger ship offshore. Rainchanger turned on Drago, "Let them go!" Drago calmly watched the ships drifting down the river, "I promised that I wouldn't hurt them, not imprison them." Rainchanger started to charge a plasma blast but Drago spoke up, "Don't forget if I ever see you disobeying me, your brother will not end up so well." Remembering of all the men Drago still had, Rainchanger stopped and responded, "Don't you dare hurt my flock." Drago chuckled, "I have no reason not to, but don't worry your flock is safe, they can't serve me if I injure them too much." Rainchanger growled, "How dare you! How could you do something like this!" A soldier ran up to them and pulled Drago away from Rainchanger, speaking in whispers but she could still hear them, "Sir, the little boy escaped, her father is bleeding a lot, we're pretty sure he is dead." Rainchanger softly growled, her father was dead. She wanted to mourn but she knew she had no time. Knowing that her brother was gone and her flock was safe, she decided to take her chances. She spread her wings and lifted off, dashing off into the distance, quickly putting distance between the soldiers and herself. She could her yells of rage and orders being passed around as they struggled to catch her and keep the resisting dragons on the boats in their cages. She flew off into her flock's territory. She flew towards the highest mountain on the island. In an emergency, her flock had established this mountain as a regrouping point, so if you were alive but didn't know where to go, you would fly here where you would meet other survivors. She landed in a flat clearing on a mountain ledge, where she saw a few dragons hiding. There were only two dragons who had brought all of the children up here to protect them, the rest of the dragons were just small children either running around or hiding.

She ascended to several other clearings where she saw many hurt dragons trying to recover from their wounds. After about a few hours of searching, she finally found a friendly face. She hadn't found her brother but she found her good friend, a Changewing, Slywing. He was entertaining the children and playing hide and seek with them, using his abilities to keep the kids searching. Once he caught sight of her, he slipped over to her and changed back into his original colors, finally making him visible again. The children flocked around him, yelling about them catching him and that it was his turn to seek, but he told the children that he was busy and the children scattered, arguing about who's going to be seeking next. Slywing looked to Rainchanger, [Hey, where's your brother? I don't see him playing.] Rainchanger whimpered, [My whole family got caught. Me and my brother escaped though. I think my father is dead.] Slywing whimpered, [Oh, Rainchanger, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?] Rainchanger sat down, [Yeah, but Slywing, they have the whole flock captured. They're all getting loaded onto boats.] Slywing sighed, [I know, but we can't do anything. I'm sorry. Right now though, you should lay down and rest.] Rainchanger sighed and lay down, trying to rest after her long day, she hadn't slept for a whole day now. As the sun set, she drifted off to sleep as Slywing laid down next to her, keeping the children warm and letting the children use him as a pillow.

As the sun dawned a new day, the dragons stirred one by one. Luckily the children had woken up early, allowing Slywing free movement when he woke up. He stood up and stretched his wings as he hunted fish in the streams around the mountain. Rainchanger stirred when Slywing got back, carrying fish for Rainchanger. She thanked Slywing for the fish and ate the fish as Slywing kept the kids distracted. The two spent the day talking, catching up, and devising plans to rescue their flock. It was about midday when it happened. The dragons were grouped up on the edge of the ledge staring at the large group of dragons flying towards them. There were dragons from every species and even some dragons they had never seen before. The dragons rejoiced thinking that their flock had escaped until fireballs and blasts started pounding the mountain and the ledge. As it became more and more apparent that the dragons were hostile, the refugees panicked and fled trying to run and hide. Slywing and Rainchanger were running through the forest when a landslide brought down boulders and stones raining down upon the fleeing dragons. Some took flight and were attacked by the dragons and brought back down onto the ground. Slywing was struck by a falling stone and hurt his leg, although it wasn't broken, Slywing couldn't run. Rainchanger turned back to let Slywing onto her back. Skywing was younger than Rainchanger by a few months and he was a lot smaller than his parents, but he had the ability to very quickly change color, quicker than most Changewings. Slywing jumped onto Rainchanger's back and changed to blend in with Rainchanger's color. As Rainchanger turned and continued to evade their attackers and the oncoming boulders, Slywing would keep watch to stop Rainchanger from getting cornered. As their flockmates fled down the mountain and off the cliffs, another threat entered the already chaotic battlefield. A wave of soldiers had climbed the mountain during the day and now they revealed themselves to capture the dragons in their nets. As Rainchanger ducked to narrowly escape a flying net, she turned into a dark cave in the side of the mountain where they waited for the battle to end.

As the sounds of battle calmed down, she could hear the humans searching the mountaintop for any dragons that weren't caught yet. Then she heard it, she could hear the sound of someone entering the cave, she receded into the shadows behind a large pile of rocks, knowing she couldn't fight humans and dragons. All of a sudden, the cave was filled with light as several torches were lit. The group started combing the cave checking everywhere. As the group searched, the light in front of them got brighter, she knew that someone was approaching their hiding place. A man holding a torch moved in front of her as he searched for them. The man didn't look in their direction as the two held their breath, waiting for the man to go away. But the man turned and with a shout of alarm, they knew they had been found. As dragons surrounded their hiding spot, Rainchanger struck out at them, forcing several dragons to run away, but new dragons just filled their space. As the dragons came closer and closer, the two caught dragons knew the plan. They had practiced this since they were little and now they were going to use it. As Rainchanger curled up protectively, faking submission, the dragons moved to capture them but then Slywing sprang up, flinging acid at all of the attacking dragons. The dragons recoiled, many of them catching acid on their face and some of them being almost blinded as the acid burned eyelids. Although it was very effective, it was a short-lived victory. New dragons surrounded the dragons but stayed out of acid range. Humans stormed the cave, bringing metal shields and armor, protecting themselves from the burning acid. The two put up a good fight, injuring many dragons and humans while killing some, but they were eventually suppressed and forced into nets and cages where their resistance was useless. They were put into a dark ship hull, where they were drugged and put to sleep. She could only remember fragments after that, waking up and getting food and water, purring and whimpering to talk to her nearby dragons, and the humans chaining and restraining her in the cage.

The next stable memory she has is waking up on land in a dark place full of humans running around and evil dark ships docked everywhere. She could see Drago standing in front of her with Littlefury in a cage next to him. She groggily got to her feet, disorientated from being on a ship for so long and sleeping for such a long time. She yelled at Drago, "What do you want now! You already have everyone, why meet with me?" Drago laughed, "I don't need anything, I do want to show you something though." Littlefury roared at her, [Don't listen to him, he's a monster!] Drago turned to Littlefury, "Be quiet!" He looked at Rainchanger, "I want you to be part of my group of personal servants. You will have special privileges and you'll be doing special missions for me." Rainchanger laughed, "Never, or course not!" Drago smiled, "Before you decide, I want to show you this." Rainchanger finally noticed the cloak he had on, Drago smiled and pushed it at her, "Do you know what this is?" Rainchanger flinched as the cloak touched her and she growled, "What have you done..." Drago smiled, "I, re-purposed, your father. He is much more useful now. Anyways, if you don't accept my offer, I'm going to have two more of these." She bared her teeth, "How dare you..." Drago was not bothered, "I also am curious about a color changing cloak, maybe I'll experiment with a Changewing, maybe one who can turn black like you." Rainchanger gasped, "No, please, no." Drago smiled, "So, do you accept?" She looked at her brother, who was shaking his head, and she looked at the dragons being unloaded from the ships, she was sure that Drago would hurt them to get what he wanted. She grunted, "Ugh, fine." Drago laughed, "Now, Rednight, bow down to me." She reluctantly bowed down to him, putting her head on the ground. She caught the look of shock and surprise on Littlefury's face. Drago laughed and walked away, waving his hand to something or someone, "Alpha, do your thing."

She was surprised until she got a head splitting headache. She managed to see through her squinted eyes that the others were also in pain, even the ones who were still sleeping had their faces screwed up in pain. Then it all stopped and an icy wave ran down her back. Then she heard a booming voice, {Hello, my new subjects.} She searched around looking for the dragon, {Don't worry, it's all in your mind, I'm not there.} Rainchanger saw that there was no one restraining her or watching her. Taking the opportunity, she took off into the sky. Not a second later, she fell to the ground with a headache pounding her skull. She tried to get up but she couldn't, she felt fully numb and out of control. She saw her flock mates watching her but they didn't move to help or offer encouragement. Again came the voice, {Don't try to escape. It wouldn't end well, I can inflict pain and control your movements whenever I want to.} She felt the numbing subside and she managed to sit up straight and look at her brother. The two exchanged terrified looks as the two realized that this was the beginning of the end of their freedom. The dragons were moved into a dungeon where they were free to roam and converse. It was their freedom in captivity. That's how Rainchanger began her time with Drago.


	7. An Answer to a Mystery?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're back with Toothless and his dragon friends. He encounters a mystery and needs to play the part of detective to find the answer. But the investigation is quickly put on hold after Toothless starts acting weird. Toothless ends up shares his worries with Cloudjumper after it starts affecting his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been editing some of my old chapters and I've realized that I don't English well. (Yes, that's a joke.) How I write is I just go with my writing and then circle back to edit after I've moved to another chapter. The reason is my chapters aren't stable, they change and lengthen as I write them. Tell if my writing is good or bad so far. Once again, no flaming.

_This chapter takes place during the second half of chapter 5_

 

_TOOTHLESS_

 

Toothless reached the Den's center where the body had been moved to. Cloudjumper followed him through the crowd, Black Fire stayed out of the crowd, she was still uncomfortable around so many dragons. Several dragons were crowded around the corpse, he assumed that they were Bladeguard's closest family and friends. He pushed through the crowd trying to get a good look at the body. [What happened?] he asked as he reached the core of the crowd. Snapflare spoke to Toothless, [We don't know. His brother is here and his best friend is here also. His father is currently on a trip and his mom died years ago. I don't know how his father is going take the news.] Cloudjumper shook his head, [How did this happen? Are you sure everyone was on guard last night?] Snapflare shook his head, [I wouldn't know, the only one who keeps track of who's on duty is Bladeguard's brother, Firestopper. I think he feels more quilty than anyone here. Firestopper was head of perimeter security and my trusted friend, whenever there was a skirmish, you could find him at my side, helping me fight off intruders. I don't know what I can do for him.] Snapflare looked determinedly at Toothless, [Whatever you do, make sure you get revenge for Bladeguard.] He bowed to Toothless as a sign of respect, Toothless reacted by pulling back to his feet, and Snapflare left to inform Bladeguard's other friends. 

Firestopper, a Timberjack, was on the edge of the inner crowd. He wasn't talking with the other dragons and trying to figure out what happened, he was sulking near the edge looking . Cloudjumper moved through the crowd asking dragons about Bladeguard and what he did yesterday. Toothless tried to help Firestopper, [Are you okay Firestopper?] Firestopper sighed, [This is my fault, I let him out too much. I'm his big brother, I was supposed to help him.] Toothless nudged Firestopper, encouraging him to look up, [None of this is your fault, you couldn't have done anything. Everyone is innocent, no one didn't anything wrong.] Firestopper looked up, [You're wrong, I did do something wrong. I did everything wrong. I was too easy on him, I always let him out too early and he comes home way too late.] Toothless purred, [Did he report to  security?] Firestopper nodded, [Always of course. I wouldn't be a very good security guard if I just let people out without reporting to someone.] Toothless nodded, [Good that's good, did he leave yesterday?] Firestopper shook his head, [No, I checked his nest, me and him live in the same cave branch, he was there sleeping when I was leaving to go on duty, that was right after the sun went down.] Toothless nodded, [Can you tell me if anyone else left yesterday?] [No, yesterday was right after a bunch of dragons got back so everyone stayed here to talk and play. No one left last night everyone was too tired.] Firestopper told Toothless. Cloudjumper walked up to the two. He told the two what he had figured out, [I've talked to everyone, no one knows about Bladeguard's plan to leave yesterday, apparently he was planning on leaving alone. Toothless, can I talk to you in private?] Toothless said goodbye to Firestopper and to his disapproval, Firestopper also bowed to him as Toothless walked away.

 

[I wish people would stopping bowing to me, I might be their Alpha but I'm still a dragon just like you and them.] Toothless complained to Cloudjumper. Cloudjumper chuckled, [Not to them you're not, remember you're the only Night Fury in the archipelago and possibly the whole world. To them you're not Toothless, the Night Fury, friend of Vikings and part of the "Dragon Riders", to them you're the legendary Night Fury Alpha, who destroyed an evil Alpha, saved lots of dragons, and destroyed a horrible human threat. To these dragons, you're almost a god and you deserve to be treated as one.] Toothless smiled sadly, [Yes, I'm an almighty god, but I can't even protect my own flock.] Black Fire ran up next to them, looking relieved to be away from the large crowd. [Hey guys, did you figure anything out? I was busy trying not to get mobbed by curious dragons.] Toothless chuckled, [Yup, we have a large flock so most of us don't meet new dragons frequently, maybe new dragons are common for you but you're the only other Stormcutter we've seen for years except for Cloudjumper here. The prospect of you being female doesn't help the matter either.] Toothless looked at Couldjumper, who suddenly became very interested in finding a private place to talk. Black Fire smiled at Toothless and scratched his weak spot, pacifying Toothless and completely embarassing him. They were following Cloudjumper, who ducked into an empty nursery room, the room was for hatchling whose parents were out hunting but it wasn't' used any more because of how deep down it was. Now they use another room closer to the Den's center. Toothless and Black Fire ducked in after him, concerned about Cloudjumper's need for privacy. [Okay Cloudjumper, out with it, if we keep sneaking around like this it's not going to look good for any of us.] Black Fire told Cloudjumper. Cloudjumper sighed, [I know but I'm sure you won't want the other dragons to hear this.] Toothless crowded around him, [This better be good Cloudjumper, I was going to talk to Bladeguard's friend.]

 

Cloudjumper nodded, [Yep, this is good, well, it's bad news but good information. I talked to a Changewing who was taking a night walk yesterday night around the Den. He said he saw Bladeguard, alive and well. But not only him, he saw Bladeguard in a group on the far side of the Den, he said he saw Sharpine, Mosseater, Hailplay, and dozens of other dragons. I'm willing to bet all my fish that they're the other missing dragons.] Toothless clarified, [Wait, so all of our missing dragons were working together to sneak off the island?] Cloudjumper shook his head, [That's the thing, they weren't talking or working on a plan apparently. He made sure to emphasize this, all of the dragons were completely silent but completely synchronized. He said he saw a whole flock of Terrible Terrors, who weren't from the Den luckily, they would've been a nightmare, fly around a Monsterous Nightmare perfectly, without even running into anyone or hitting any wings. I find that completely unrealistic though, we all know how those Terrors are, they don't even listen to Oldnight when there was a flock here. I just can't imagine any of them being that synchronized much less a flock of them.] Toothless laughed, [I can't argue there! I remember the Terrors on Berk, I'm pretty sure Hiccup and his friends spent a whole month designing a system just to keep the Terrors from running into buildings and falling on Vikings.] Toothless sighed sullenly, [Yeah, Hiccup and his friends on Berk...] Cloudjumper glared at Toothless, both with frustration at Toothless's sadness and with worry for his only true friend, [Umm, I don't want to interrupt you but we kind of need to figure out how Bladeguard died.] Toothless shook his head vigorously, snapped out of another of his perpetual trances, [Yes of course, I'm ready.] Cloudjumper criticized Toothless worryingly, but when Toothless didn't mean his eyes, he continued, [Well, the Changewing, being the gossipers they are, followed the dragons a short distance off the Nest. He said they were flying South at least past Gronkle Born Island.] Black Fire blurted out her question, [Is that the island we passed the other day? The one with stone nests along its shore?] Toothless absentmindedly answered, [Yeah, the Gronkles lay their eggs there and...] Toothless didn't finish his sentence, he was busy staring into the depths of the Monsterous Nightmare gel fire nearby. Black Fire nudged him, putting slight pressure on his forehead, [Hey Tooth! Toothless? What do they do there Toothless?] Toothless looked at Black Fire distractedly, obviously not focusing on Black Fire, [They, umm.... they also take care of their young there...] Spooked by his strange behavior, Black Fire turned to Cloudjumper, who was observing Toothless's strange behavior. Cloudjumper spoke to Black Fire without taking his eyes off Toothless, as if he was worried that doing so would cause Toothless to become even weirder, [Can you leave Black Fire? I'll catch up to you with Toothless, just follow the dragon sounds back through the tunnels, you can hide in my sleeping spot until we get there if you don't want dragons looking at you.] Black Fire started to protest, [I'd rather wait...] but realizing what Cloudjumper needed to do, she left without another word.

 

[Okay Toothless we're alone, you and me,  stop being a Timberjack and be a Changewing. Lose the secrets and tell me what's wrong.] Toothless wordlessly lay down on the stone. Uncomfortable minutes passed, the fire flickering in Toothless's eyes as it slowly ran out of gel. Until finally the only light in the room came from the torches outside. Toothless sighed sorrowfully, [I can't do this Cloudjumper, I shouldn't be here.] Cloudjumper felt it was best to not talk and wait until Toothless had told him everything that was bothering him, and sure enough Toothless continued, [It's too much. I might be a Night Fury but, I'm not a leader, I still need someone else to lead me.] Again minutes passed without words, [It's all too much, I not an adult, I have no idea what to do! I'm not ready for this!] Cloudjumper stepped outside and carefully carried a torch in his mouth where he put it in a bracket on the wall. Toothless kept on ranting, [It's not fair! There's too much to worry about too much that's not my responsibility.] Finally knowing the problem, Cloudjumper spoke up, [No.] Toothless's ears perked up honing in on Cloudjumper's voice, [No? What no?] Cloudjumper made his way around the room, just pacing, [You're right, it's not fair and they're not your responsibility, but now, in a new era with a new set of rules, this is what's fair and those are your responsibilities.] Toothless squirmed around to glare at Cloudjumper, [Cloudjumper I know that, a bigger surprise would be if I didn't and that's not the problem. I'm talking about me! Not food, or territory, or even the Nest! When I accepted Alpha, I accepted that. What I didn't accept were my worries and my nightmares.] Cloudjumper stopped, [Your nightmares?] Toothless shifted now staring intently on a beetle making its way across the remnants of the fire, [I've seen things I can't forget Cloud. I saw the love and compassion Hiccup had. I saw the determination and the loyalty of the Dragon Riders. I even saw the fierceness and strength of the Vikings. But I will never forget the day I saw hatred and fear in those dragons who served the evil Queen, and i can't stop seeing the blank stares of the Drago's dragons and how they were commanded by a man filled with so much hatred and evil. But most of all, I can't stop seeing my friends. I can see each of them caught and enslaved by Drago. I can see their lifeless eyes and I know now that it's nobody's fault, but my own.] Cloudjumper never liked to talk too too much and that wasn't changing now, [Okay.] Toothless glared angrily at Cloudjumper, [Okay?!? Okay?!? Okay is for a normal question like 'How are you doing?' and 'How's the fish?' Not for someone suffering reoccurring fears of losing friends because you failed them!] Toothless realizing what he said quickly curled up, hiding his eyes from Cloudjumper. Cloudjumper sat down heavily, sighing loudly, [So that's what's wrong. You're scared of losing Hiccup.] Toothless muttered, [I'm not scared of losing just Hiccup.] [So you're scared of losing me?] Toothless shouted the truth at Cloudjumper, tired of the game, [I'm worried of failing! I haven't been an Alpha that long and we already have a dead flock mate! I'm worried that because of me, there won't be anyone to worry for me! I'm worried of messing up the wrong thing and losing everything! I'm scared of me, okay?! I'm scared of me messing up! Are you happy now?] Toothless sulkily laid back down, facing away from Cloudjumper.

 

[Okay Toothless, tell me one thing. If this is you, then who isn't you? I didn't know about the reoccurring nightmares but I do now, and you know what I say? Move on! Fears and nightmares are a part of life. The difference between a dead dragon and us is we didn't stop.] He walked up behind Toothless, who stayed oblivious to Cloudjumper, [We kept living our life. You either fight your fears and nightmares or they'll kill us. Listen to me Toothless, I am always worried of failing Valka. I worry of missing a threat or defending the wrong attack and leaving my friends to die. Meatfinder, he worries everyday about stealing the wrong thing and leading an army back to the Nest.] Cloudjumper laid down next to him, watching him playing with tail fin, opening it and closing it repeatedly, still sulking, [You're not the only one. The only answer is to move on or prove your fears wrong. I know what you saw, I have seen the same things to. Did you know what happened to me after the flock of Stormcutters were killed?] Cloudjumper watched Toothless, swishing his tail across the floor absentmindedly, [I changed. I hid and never did anything. I never left my dark cave to eat or drink, I just hid there thinking of everything that happened, over and over again, and, quite literally, is was killing me. I knew that there was nothing that I could do to change it, but that's all I thought about, what I could've done, I could've gotten there earlier or I could go hunt down Drago for revenge.] Cloudjumper shifted comfortably all the stone floor, calling up the nightmares freaked him out, it brought back a feeling of suffering and fear. But he pressed on through the fear, [I spent weeks in there, drowning in my self doubt and fear. I think Valka came in and brought food and water for me, I'm sure she's the reason I'm here today.] He reluctantly stood up, realizing that if he told the rest of the story lying down, he probably won't have gotten up again, [I still remember it, the swirling nightmares and the fading line between reality and fantasy, real life and a dream, fear and horror and supportive and caring. The bodies followed me, they were inside my nest, staining the stone as their blood spread. I'm glad that everyone left me alone, at one point I had burnt my whole Nest trying to get rid of the bodies in my panicked state, and anyone inside would have been killed. That's why I owed my allegiance to the Alpha and Valka. Valka kept my body alive but the Alpha kept my sanity and soul alive. The Alpha was always there in my head, comforting me and taking my mind away from the dragons.] Cloudjumper bowed his head, trying to rebury the horrible dreams and failing. Cloudjumper shivered as he once again saw dead dragons in the room, [It doesn't fade Toothless, every battle, every kill, every death, will be marked on you, whether you killed, saw someone get killed, or received news of it. It's all marks on our sanity, they best we can do is mend it afterwards but once in a while one or two will break in-] Cloudjumper froze, haunted by the illusion in front of him, knowing it wasn't real but worried either way, [And when they do, you need to let them in and talk it out. These dragons, they know you, they know me, they know their ghosts and our ghosts. Only others can see the ghosts knocking on your mind, surrounding you and trying to poke their way in like a Terrible Terror who knows you have food. They don't leave. These dragons will help you with anything, I will help you with anything. But they look up to you, they can see your problems but as a leader you need to see theirs too. Find what's wrong and scare it off. As a leader, you're responsible for taking care of everyone's ghosts. But don't let that stop you from dealing with your own.] Cloudjumper quietly whimpered at the sight in front of him, but he walked out the of the room, [Tell me whenever you need to talk, I could use it too.] He left. Toothless sat up, noting Cloudjumper's absence. He quietly put the thing he was fiddling with on the fire remains and burnt it, ready to move on. He left the room, the final flickers of the fire burning out, filling the room with darkness once again. Darkness that left Toothless's possession cloaked in the darkness, a scale from a dragon years ago, a black scale from another dragon years ago, a scale as dark as night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, I was working on my new story, The New Alliance, and my schedule consisted of just too much summer school, school, and community service. This story is still going don't worry. Short chapter here, just gotta cut it here. Good reading!


	8. A Different Berk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astrid tries keeping the Vikings from noticing Hiccup's frequent absences, but unsurprisingly fails because of Hiccup's far too frequent absences. A crowd gathers and Hiccup's Dragon Riders are questioned about their oath to protect Berk,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give me a few days to get into the writing mood, I haven't been writing in a long time. Wish me good luck in the future! Bouts of writer's block combined with game releases and finals are bad combos guys.

_This chapter takes place during Chapter 7._

 

  _ASTRID_

 

"I already told you, I don't know where Hiccup is, he's probably helping someone else right now."

Astrid watched the man storm out the room, already grabbing people asking where Hiccup was. She returned to her list. She wrote down everything everyone told her for Hiccup to deal with after he returned to Berk. Astrid looked worryingly at the long list. This was the longest the list ever got, five hundred and forty-three things, the closest they had ever gotten was five hundred twenty-six, and that only happened when Hiccup got stranded on an island for a month. She thought about Hiccup day and night, not only was this his longest trip, but also his longest unexpected trip. Whenever Hiccup planned a trip, he and Astrid would have enough time to at least have a short argument, but Hiccup had stormed off that night and she hadn't seen him the next day. Astrid watched the Vikings milling around as she wrote down yet another complaint for Hiccup to deal with upon his return. Astrid returned to her short breakfast as she sat watching the last embers from the morning's fire day away in the fireplace.

"Time to go, another day of covering for Hiccup." 

She got up from the table, the house now cast in darkness from the burnt out fireplace. As she threw the plates into a basket to clean another day, Stormfly "knocked" on her door with her spines, having gotten a feel for when Astrid would usually start her day. But today was anything but usual, as Astrid stepped outside she could see something was wrong. Sure the dragons were fine and nothing had been reduced to ruins and the weather was relatively warm for the time of year. No, the problem today were the Vikings themselves. No longer milling around, they had gathered in from of Astrid's house, each wearing an expression of disapproval and anger.

"Good morning? What's wrong guys?"

A Viking pushed through to the front and pointed accusingly at her, "What's  wrong!? What's wrong is Hiccup isn't here!"

Stormfly raised her tail behind Astrid, posed to strike the accusing man. As the man tried to blend back in with the crowd, Astrid slowly stroked the spines back down and calmed Stormfly. She turned back to the crowd as she heard someone running down the path to her right, "Well what do you want me to do?"

Fishlegs and Snoutlout entered the confrontation on their dragons, accidentally. "HA! I told you Snoutlout, Meatlug is faster downhill!"

The two began arguing, "Yeah, and she sucks at everything else!"

"Don't listen to him Meatlug, everyone knows you won."

"That's funny, that sounds like what a loser would say."

"Well, let's see what Astrid says!"

The two turned to Astrid to settle the argument, she refused to help them with anything as she just stood there, wondering how the two could be so clueless. Once it was clear that that the argument wasn't going to be solved by Astrid and her harsh glare, Fishlegs and Snoutlout dropped the argument, "So, Astrid, what's going on? Anything me and Snoutlout could do? Maybe for these guys?" Fishlegs jerked his thumb at the crowd.

"Yeah, got anything else for Hookfang to beat Meatlug at again?"

Astrid shook her head, disappointed and tired at his complete ignorance, "Yes, you guys can help all these Vikings and then go get Hiccup."

"Hiccup? I know where Hiccup is!" The twins on Barf and Belch were on top of a house, doing who knows what.

"Yeah! I was talking with Chicken this morning."

The crowd laughed, informed about Tuffnut's shenanigans. A Viking wearing an impressive amount of Yak fur stepped up to Tuffnut, "Entertain us, where's Hiccup?"

"Hiccup left a few weeks ago with Skullcrusher in the middle of the night on a boat. He was being really sneaky, Chicken said that he was really bad at sneaking."

Astrid made a mental note to punch Tuffnut for his stupidity, as she tried to look unfazed by Tuffnut's statement. She wanted to give the Vikings no reason to even suspect that it could've been true. To her relief, the Vikings burst out laughing, slapping each other's backs at Tuffnut's comedy. More then a few Vikings fell over laughing at the hilarious accusation, surprisingly including Gobber, who told even crazier stories. A Viking wearing a partially squashed helmet walked up to Tuffnut, "Now, now, lying isn't something you should be doing."

Tuffnut huffed angrily and pointed at the Viking, "I did nothing like that! You're the one who's lying!"

Astrid was worried Tuffnut had some serious evidence ready to back him up. Snoutlout and Fishlegs were used to Tuffnut and eagerly left the area to avoid Astrid's angry glares. Astrid acted quickly, trying to lower Tuffnut's credibility even further, "So what did the other chickens say, Tuffnut?"

Astrid knew that Tuffnut couldn't speak with chickens, at the very least she hoped so.

Tuffnut nervously rolled his eyes, "What did the other chickens say?! Let me tell you what the other chickens said! They said... that Hiccup... was going to... Dragon's Den! Yes, that's what they said."

The crowd roared with laughter, once again sending several Vikings away from the square, done with the acts. Tuffnut was pouting on top of Belch, who was also mad at Ruffnut and Barf, who were laughing their heads off. Astrid was worried, no one knew about Hiccup's plans, she wondered whether it was a lucky guess or a true ability. Suddenly, someone ran into the square, getting jostled by the chaotic laughing crowd. Trader Johann stepped up towards Astrid, extremely nervous and scared.

Astrid sighed, "Trader Johann, calm down, the Vikings will head down to the docks to trade with you any minute now, we were just having a meeting. Don't worry, everyone buys their stuff from you." Trader Johann always grew anxious when there was a lack of customers at his ship. Back when they fought with the dragons, Trader Johann had demanded to speak with Stoick about his customers, in the middle of a raid. It was very amusing honestly, watching the undisturbed trader nervously asking the chief about trading, as Stoick fended off an annoyed Nightmare with large powerful swings from his "upgraded" battleax, which had blades and spikes protruding from the weapon in 16 different directions, thanks to Gobber.

Johann nervously fumbled with his hat in his hands, "Oh Miss Astrid, do not worry about that! I have told you many times, Berk is my favorite island to visit, even just to visit the dragons!"

Astrid sighed disappointedly,"Trader Johann, you hate dragons. You always get nervous around them."

Johann nodded sadly, "That is true. But what I must trouble you with is that issue of my spare boat. I keep it here to go fishing whenever I get here, but when I headed over there today to do some fishing, I discovered that the boat had mysteriously disappeared."

Astrid wanted to punch Trader Johann so badly but made peace with punching Tuffnut and Hiccup later instead. She hoped the laughing had drowned out Johann's worries. But Vikings always eavesdropped and they didn't miss this opportunity. By the time, Astrid had regained her composure, the whole crowd was fixing her with suspicious glares, "Heh, heh, yeah. So your boat is missing, is it, Trader Johann? Maybe you should go and look for it." She shoved Johann down the pathway, back down towards the docks.

The impressively hairy Viking shouted at Astrid, "So, a ship's missing is it? Any ideas or guesses where it is?"

Astrid laughed nervously, "No. No ideas here."

"Well," the Viking stepped out of the crowd, "I have a guess. I think it's heading toward Dragon's Den, with Hiccup on it!"The crowd surged forward expectantly waiting for an answer. She could hear questions being thrown at her. She could feel the piercing and threatening glares of the Vikings. As questions turned to threats and accusations of lying, Astrid was beaten back, overwhelmed by their words. She could feel that Berk was a coin, a side of stability and peace, imprisoned to be connected to a side of war and violence. She knew her next action could send the coin any direction, that's when she came to a conclusion.

She was scared.  _Come on! I can handle a crowd of dragons but not a crowd of Vikings? What's wrong with me!_ Astrid started, "Hiccup is on Berk, he is ready to be the chief and protect-" But the crowd was done with talking, they surged forwards with raised weapons demanding the truth. She yelled for her friends as she drew her own ax, parrying an incoming swing. Suddenly, the crowd backed away as Stormfly landed behind Astrid and swung her tail at the crowd, protectively guarding her. "Thanks, Stormfly."

To her surprise, Hookfang and Meatlug descended nearby, "I am Snoutlout, a Dragon Rider! I have sworn upon my honor, my family, and my pride to protect Berk and protect dragons from harm. Should I break my oath, may Thor and Odin strike me in flight."

Fishlegs stood on top of Meatlug so the crowd could hear him, "And my name is Fishlegs, and I'm a Dragon Rider. I have sworn upon my dragon, my honor, and my intelligence to protect Berk and dragons. I will protect dragons with my knowledge of them and I will protect our knowledge of dragons. If I should break this bond, may Thor and Odin strike me from my dragon in flight."

Astrid stepped towards the crowd, confident and proud, "My name is Astrid Hofferson. I am a Dragon Rider. I have sworn upon my family, my dragon, and my life to protect dragons and Berk. I shall not harm any dragons or Berk and I shall not encourage harm in any way. I have sworn upon my conscience to help my fellow dragon riders and to help my fellow dragons. If in any way I disrupt this bond, should Thor and Odin strike me down from the skies."

The crowd stirred as people shoved others away to reach the front. They stepped up to join Astrid as their dragons alighted on the nearby roofs.

Barf and Belch practically landed on top of the crowd, both Tuffnut and Ruffnut stepped up next to Astrid, "We have sworn upon the Thorston name to defend Berk." "And we have sworn upon our lives to use our foolishness for good." "We are Dragon Riders and we will not hurt dragons." "And if we are to lie or in anyway purposely break our 'oath', we will give up our pranks and jokes." "And we will let Loki take us from our saddles." The two high-fived in celebration of their coordination. 

Gustav was the next to stand beside Astrid, "My name is Gustav Larson. I am a Dragon Rider. I have sworn upon my membership, my dragon, and my honor to protect Berk. I will not harm dragons unless acted upon and I shall not provoke or attack dragons in any way. I am to keep this bond as a part of duties as captain of Berk's Auxiliary Team. If I am to break this oath, I shall let Thor plunge me into the seas." Gustav's Nightmare, Fanghook, climbed onto the nearest house, judging the crowd.

 The rest of Berk's Auxiliary team stepped up reciting their oaths. "My name is Spitelout and I'm a Dragon Rider." Kingstail joined Fanghook on top of the house.

"My name is Sven and I am a Dragon Rider." Sven's Nightmare rose from the shadows of a dark alley.

"My name is Bucket." "And my name is Mulch." "We have sworn upon Whip and Lash to defend Berk." "And we are Dragon Riders." Whip and Lash stepped in next to Tuffnut and Ruffnut, giving Barf and Belch a friendly nudge.

Gothi was her usual self. She stepped up and whacked the Viking in the head with her staff, knocking the man's helmet off. She hadn't spoken but her message was clearly heard when her Gronkle flew in and landed, ready to fight.

Astrid was proud of her team but it was her turn now. _They did this for you, now it's time to do something for them._ She stepped forward and the crowd stepped back, "We are the Dragon Riders, and we will defend Berk at all costs. We are the A-Team, ready to defend Berk at anytime. In Hiccup's leadership, we will defeat any threat in the archipelago. Without Hiccup's leadership, we will defend Berk against any threat that arrives in its land. We have sworn to uphold peace and safety at all costs. You are safe as long as long as we are here, and we will be here as long as Hiccup is chief. To doubt your safety is to doubt us, to doubt us is to doubt Hiccup, and to doubt Hiccup is to doubt Stoick," she could see the words hitting home, "Whether it is Hiccup defending Berk or his team defending Berk, Hiccup is at the heart if Berk and I guarantee you your safety as long you can believe in Hiccup and Stoick."  

The crowd was undecided. Several Vikings shuffled off, tired of the arguments. The rest stood waiting for something, anything to happen. The Viking who was so aggressive a second ago, now pointed at Astrid and said, "You better guarantee our safety, or else it may be time for a new chief!" With that he left, the crowd dispersing behind him, now leaderless.

Astrid sighed,  _That was too close._ She watched as all the dragon riders left and yelled out thanks and gratitude to each person, even Snoutlout, who quickly starting his boasting to a nonexistent audience.


	9. A Plan and B Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fishlegs thinks ahead and it doesn't look good. What will happen when Berk descends back into chaos? The Vikings have had enough and they decided to do something about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again so sorry for the huge delay, Im working on a few other projects also and it's been a struggle lately

_This chapter takes place after Chapter 6 but during Chapter 7 still._

 

_FISHLEGS/SNOUTLOUT_

 

Fishlegs was troubled, the books on Berk were far and few in between and consisted mostly of dragon information, but Fishleg's private collection held several old thick history books. He knew what this meant without even needing to consult a book. This was unrest, and unaddressed unrest lead to revolts. He hurried around the village, looking for Valka. His search was fruitless, turning up neither Valka or any of his friends. He continued rushing around the village though, just checking his contraptions and machines. He watched as large machine responded to a dragon's nudging and dispensed fish into a nearby hole. He made a note to make the machine more accurate as he watched the fish spill out all around the area.

He considered the Vikings passing by. One pushed a wheelbarrow piled high with fish, being chased by a large swarm of Terrible Terrors. Another walked with his friend, talking about the morning. Another walked pass, cursing Hiccup and Astrid. Yet other walked pass, mumbling about dragons and cursing.

Fishlegs returned to his smelly but spacious renovated warehouse. He carefully brushed off hastily scribbled notes from his Gronkle iron desk. He carefully moved a pile of scales he was studying onto a nearby shelf. Meatlug waddled in through the open doors and lit Fishleg's hearth before blundering back out. Fishlegs pulled out a map of Berk which Hiccup had excruciatingly drawn, colored, and copied several times after Fishlegs had begged him to do it. Fishlegs now laid a piece of paper over Hiccup's map and copied down the details he needed. Instead of making Hiccup make dozens of maps, Fishlegs copied down what details he needed from the map whenever he used it. Fishlegs drew out the buildings and the pathways, marking the positions of cannons, catapults, and bunkers. Fishlegs then added a line and another, making a path. He pulled out several containers of squid ink dyed different colors and a rudimentary colored powder. He stuck dots and lines of ink across the paper, adding colored powder at different points. After a few hours of running around town and marking the map, he set out for Astrid's house.

He arrived to find Skyblaze in front of the house, quietly chattering with Stormfly. Skyblaze was Valka's secondary dragon, Cloudjumper and Skyblaze had been very close and it seemed logical for Valka to ride with her instead. The two Nadders bounded off, seeing Fishlegs approach. The two took flight, but Fishlegs knew they'd be back if Astrid or Valka needed them. He politely knocked but entered the house anyway. "Astrid! I need to talk."

Valka, Astrid, Snoutlout, Gustav, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut were all lounging in the large living room, enlarged to accommodate small dragons or eavesdropping dragon heads. "Guys? What's going on? No one told me about this meeting." Fishlegs felt left out.

Ruffnut laughed, "Don't worry, Fishlegs. We knew you'd be here soon. You always were the one who came up with plans and stuff. We were just waiting for you." Tuffnut sighed dramatically, Chicken clucking at his side, "I agree, Chicken, I am disappointed. I expected Fishlegs here five minutes ago."

"Oh, so you guys were just waiting?" FIshlegs rolled the map in his hand, unreasonably nervous.

Snoutlout groaned exhaustively, "Yes Mr. Smarty Pants, we were waiting. We all know you do the thinking and planning for us. It's either you or Hiccup. So are you going to us your idea already?"

"Oh, yes, of course I was." Fishlegs spread the map on the floor, covering a big portion of it. "So we all know what happened this morning. And I was thinking what would've happened if the Dragon Riders weren't there today."

Everyone defaulted to their normal response once Fishlegs started with a plan of his, "Okay..."

Fishlegs continued excitedly, "Well, I took note of Berk's Vikings and their thoughts of Hiccup, who hates what and how much. After getting that, I got a map of Berk with defenses, walkways and roads. Got it?" "Okay..." "So I made a map, so the red ink are people who are fiercely loyal and will always help us." "Okay..." "So those are the Dragon Riders, Gobber, Valka, and one or two others."

Valka was minimally interested, "So what's the blue ink?" "Those are the people who are reliable and helpful a lot of the time." "And the black ink?" "People who don't like us but are trustworthy." "What about the rest?" "The green powder is people who kind of hate us, the blue powder is people who are probably going to join in on a revolt, and finally the orange powder are the people who are likely to start a revolt."

Snoutlout sighed loudly, "Fishlegs! You ran out of ink didn't you buddy, tell us that beforehand, there's only about twenty ink dots and about seventy powdered dots. You didn't even count the whole town! There's gotta be at least eighty people you haven't accounted for." "I know and that would only help us marginally." "And there are apparently only thirty people we can "trust" and about eighty people who are going to fight against us." "I know."

Fishlegs sighed solemnly, "I know it doesn't look good, but it's the facts. You saw the crowd, how many people do you think are ready for a different chief?"

Astrid rubbed her face, tired and stressed out, "Well, what can we do? It's going to be really hard to make people happy without Hiccup here."

Fishlegs was worried too, "That's why I've sketched out a little battle plan for plan A."

But he looked around the room, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were lounging on stacks of furs, both clearly very bored without their dragons. Snoutlout was smirking and full of himself as he merrily insulted everyone in the room, the room's fire flickering across his face, but Fishlegs could tell that he was burnt out and tired from the last few weeks. Astrid was ready as always, but in the shadowy light of the fire, Astrid looked stressed and tired. She looked like she aged months in weeks and got as much sleep people got in a day during the past few weeks. Gustav was full of life, but even Fishlegs could see a dampened fire in his eyes.  Valka was clearly in the best shape. She hadn't lost much of her old fire and still was as determined and alert as always. But Valka had given up her son, her dearest friend and her dragon just weeks ago, and Fishlegs knew that wound took much longer to heal. Fishlegs himself was worn down by life on Berk.

Like everything else on Berk, only the toughest survived. They had spent years with their dragons and discovered lands far away that boats never would've reached. They had even built a home away from home, Dragon's Edge. All those years they had nurtured the adventurous side of them. The weaker side of them. Now returning to Berk, they had been returned to a harsh reality, a world where it was survival of the strongest. The part of them not built for survival had been predictably worn away, leaving them incomplete and longing for fulfillment. They all knew that Hiccup was that missing part, he was the remnants of each person's old personality. The scientist of Fishleg's personality, the overconfidence of Snoutlout's behavior, the fighting fire and perseverance of Astrid's spirit, the silliness and innocence of Ruffnut and Tuffnut's nature, and Gustav's determination and curiosity. Not only was he the part they each lacked, but he was the biggest connection to dragons and Dragon's Den. Without him, not only will they collapse but so will their peace.

Minutes passed before an exhausted Ruffnut asked the question Fishlegs was dreading, "So what's plan B?"

Fishlegs trembled and sighed, "Well, Plan B will be an escape route."

 

\---

 

Snoutlout was outraged. He jumped up and advanced towards Fishlegs, "Fishlegs, even I have to admit your plans are useful, but your plan B this time is just disappointing. An escape plan?! We're not going to need an escape plan right?"

He turned to the group on the floor, "Right?"

He watched as they each turned to look at the map Fishlegs had drawn. Gustav stood up also, "Snoutlout is right, we can fight them!"

But the rest were indifferent. Tuffnut raised his hand in agreement hesitantly, even Ruffnut was unconvinced. Astrid sighed, "Snoutlout, we all love Berk. But what happens when Berk doesn't want us? Right now the Vikings want a new chief, and with the new chief, Hiccup can't help us keep peace with the dragons."

Snoutlout picked up the map which was covered in powder and saw the small number of ink blotches. He faltered, the sheer number of enemies were overwhelming. Then an idea struck. Not missing a beat, he pressed on. "Well, we can't leave Berk vulnerable like that, I'm sure someone would do something stupid and destroy the whole village somehow."

Astrid laughed, "It's probably going to end up being us somehow."

Regaining his composure, he threw the map aside carelessly and laughed. He smirked, "So Berk wants a new chief right? Which is going to mean fighting over the position right?"

Fishlegs nodded, "Yeah, most likely there will be a power struggle."

Snoutlout laughed, "Simple then. We'll just give them what they want, we have dragons, of course, we'll win.

Valka joined the conversation, "So you want to start a power struggle so we can claim power?"

Snoutlout nodded, "Yeah, once we make them all beg for mercy, I can take the position as chief and when Hiccup comes back, he can have the position back."

Fishlegs nodded slowly, "I must admit, that plan would work a lot better, but does everyone agree?"

The group slowly unanimously agreed to the plan. Astrid brought up one more thing as the hands came down, "Just one thing, are we sure about you being chief?"

Tuffnut laughed, "Yeah, so when Hiccup comes back, he can just 'have the position back' with no strings attached? Snoutlout, we all know you're not just going to give it back."

Snoutlout huffed, "Of course I would... After he beats me and Hookfang in a race."

The group laughed. Snoutlout was outraged, "What! I can beat him!"

Ruffnut chuckled, "I'll be surprised if you can even catch up to him, especially if he comes back with Toothless."

Snoutlout angrily growled, "And if he doesn't?"

Tuffnut elbowed Ruffnut jokingly, "I'm pretty sure Hiccup can still run pretty quick."

The group all laughed wholehearted, relieved at the lighter atmosphere. Even Snoutlout smiled before he quickly left wordlessly on Hookfang, still slightly embarrassed. An hour later, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, and Stormfly with their riders could be seen leaving as well.

The next day was full of tension. Berk was balancing on the tip of a ship's bow as it went through a storm. The inevitable fall would come soon. Snoutlout strolled through Berk as Vikings stormed around all agitated. He thought to himself, _So this is how Berk will fall, a bunch of moody Vikings. Might've been better off invaded._ As he entered the large center of town, several voices drew his attention. A man was threatening Fishlegs, who was defending a group of Terrible Terrors. An empty toolbox sat next to the angry man. Blaming the Terrors for the tools' disappearance, he dangerously waved a large ax at Fishlegs. A crowd was gathering, getting quickly attracted by the commotion. "Hey, hey everyone calm down Snoutlout is here! I'm going to fix everything, just calm down!"

The man turned on Snoutlout, who fearlessly pushed the ax aside, "Put the ax down Steinolf, no need for that here."

Steinolf was conflicted but slowly lowered the ax, "The damn Terrors stole my tools, I'm sure of it! I was working on patching up my wall with my full toolbox, I put it down and turned around for a second and they were gone! These blasted things had to have done it!"

Several angry cheers rose from the crowd, "Yeah blasted dragons burned down my door!" "They burned my bushes!" "One collapsed my roof!" "Yeah, a Gronkle ate all my crops" "A flock of Terrible Terrors stole my fishing net and all my fish!" "Uncivilized dragons!"

Snoutlout was panicking, "Umm Fishlegs, any help?"

Fishlegs answered thoughtfully, "Well Snoutlout, they seem to be telling the truth though..."

Snoutlout cried helplessly, "FIshlegs! The dragons are your responsibility! What am I supposed to do now?!"

Suddenly a Terrible Terror fell to the ground gagging. After a few tense seconds, it promptly spit up a large hammer. Steinolf quickly scooped it off and pointed at Fishlegs, "Well, we know what happened now!"

Snoutlout held his hands out, "Hey hey hey, let's just think this through okay? Just calm down."

Steinolf was done talking, he raised his ax and charged at Fishlegs, who dove out of the way. The Terrors floated lazily upwards, just out of the ax's reach as Steinolf struggled to reach them. Meatlug sensing her owner's danger, flew into the chaotic mix, effectively knocking over all the Vikings in her path and drawing several other curious dragons towards the mix. Vikings sprang into action at the sight of the crowding dragons, lashing out against the dragons, who were thoroughly confused. Drawn by the commotion, Astrid and Gustav landed in the midst of the chaos, getting off of Stormfly and Fanghook.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good reading hopefully! Another one is surely coming out soon!


	10. A Violent Solution

  _GUSTAV_

 

The two pulled out axes and swords as they were instantly assaulted by several crazed Vikings. The two dragons moved to defend their riders. "No!" Astrid yelled, "Go send the signal, we need it now."

Fanghook loyally took off after bashing several Vikings with his tail, but Stormfly lingered, fearing for her owner. After narrowly impaling several Vikings nearby, she took off cautiously, avoiding sword swings and protecting her rider. Gustav was fighting a large Viking with a large mace as Gobber swung his "upgraded" prosthetic, covering Gustav's back. The fighting was loud and chaotic, flashing steel and iron flew by as swings bounced off of armor, helmets, and crates being used for cover. But she could feel it in the air, there was a half-hearted swing, then a weak shot that bounced off several helmets. Everyone was pulling their punches, fighting to disarm not harm. 

She dived right in, wrenching a man's mace away and flinging another's sword away. The man surrendered and retreated from the battle, probably going to find another weapon. Gradually sides emerged, dragon riders against Vikings. Fortunately, Fishlegs was a little wrong and they had several more allies than expected. But still, they remained severely outnumbered. As sides emerged, several people called for their dragons to help but the dragons, remaining the most loyal, stayed out of the battle not wanting to hurt friends and comrades. In fact, their decision to remain as neutral as possible prevented a lot of unnecessary bloodshed.

"Hmm, for 'uncivilized dragons', we could learn several things from them," Gustav mumbled quietly.

"What did you say, Gustav?" Astrid loudly over the clash.

"Nothing!"

The two pushed their way through the crowd, pushing through hordes of dragons taking off away from the offending axes and maces. Fire and steel clashed once the dragons had enough of the chaos. Plentiful flames engulfed the village as dragons fought back, but it was no use, Berk's new fire proofed buildings took no damage from the searing flames. They did, however, cause everyone to flee, as dragons scorched the battlefield between dragon riders and haters, both sides hid from the deadly flames, temporarily calming the battle. But one by one, the dragons had enough and flew off to their underground stable while others flew into the hills high above the village. Astrid and Gustav met up with Snoutlout after quickly pushing their attackers into a drinking trough. "Hey guys, I got split up with Fishlegs, have you two seen him?"

Gustav shook his head, "The last time I saw him, he was chasing Steinolf, who was chasing the Terrors up the hill."

Astrid swung her ax, using the broad flat side, hitting a Viking running by in his chest and sending him to the floor, "That's good, at least we know he's not running around carrying dragons in the middle of a battle."

Gustav ducked as Gobber smacked a Viking behind him with his mace, "Hey Gobber, does anyone know where the twins are?"

Snoutlout nodded at Astrid, who was effectively giving several Vikings large bruises by clobbering them with the broad side of her axe, "Astrid probably knows. I saw her talking to them yesterday."

Gustav helped Astrid trip a large Viking named Harifin, he was upset about the dragons blowing up his house where he was working with Nightmare gel to replicate Hiccup's fiery weapon. He went tumbling into another pack of Vikings as Gustav pushed him over Astrid's ax, causing a dog pile of dangerous weapons and Vikings on the trampled grass. They turned around only to find more Vikings bearing down as Gobber rushed to help.

Weapons clashed, sparks flew only to be trampled by stampeding boots of the clashing Vikings. The fight dragged on through the morning towards noon. Vikings sought weapons and refreshments once disarmed and quickly rejoined the battle soon afterward. Crates of fish had been smashed, picked clean by daring hungry dragons and several Vikings laid off to the side, waiting for their gashes to be patched by Gothi and then rejoin the battle. Several patches of grass had been colored red and chest plates and weapons would be dented or chipped with a loud bang. Gustav and his team had set up a defensive rank near the dragon's feeding stations, protecting the baby Nadders and Gronkles that couldn't fly away. Astrid and Snoutlout were defending the entrance to the stables as the Vikings attempted to disrupt the dragons sleeping and hiding below. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were assumed to be defending the sheep herds like when Snoutlout saw them earlier. Fishlegs was nowhere to be found.

In the midst of the battle, a dark shape started dashing across the field, running in and out of the alleys. The Vikings hardly noticed, too caught up in the battle. As the dark shape darted back across and knocked over several unexpecting Vikings, a gout of flames flew out and a nearby ballista blew up. The fiery debris quickly pulled the attention of the Vikings in the area. The shadowy figure appeared once more and most Vikings turned to face it, but by the time anyone had time to turn, the shape had left the field, leaving a catapult destroyed. After another building exploded, the fight quickly stopped. As the fight cooled down, all of the Dragon Riders moved towards the Mead Hall. People claimed that Toothless and Hiccup had returned to break up the fight. Many people doubted it but no one dared speak up. The Dragon Riders gathered inside the Mead Hall where they met Tuffnut and Ruffnut waiting for them. 

As the group was returning from the Mead Hall, the Vikings had mostly dispersed, going to find food. They might've doubted the return of Hiccup, but to risk tangling with a Night Fury and his angry rider was more than enough to dissuade them. The ones who were still there questioned the team very thoroughly, wanting to know everything. They quickly deflected their questions, just saying that Hiccup was around and nearby but giving no specifics. Fishlegs and Steinolf stumbled into the square, covered in grime, dirt, and blood. 

"Oh, hey Fishlegs! Where have you been?"

Steinolf stamped off to clean up, they were both covered in grime and mud, "Hey Gustav! It was amazing, we were chasing the Terrors when they flew into the cave. We followed them in and there was a whole cavern of them! It was amazing. Well, the part where we weren't getting chewed on and bitten was pretty cool. That part was mostly just painful. After that, we got out of there but then we fell into quicksand and I had to pull Steinolf out..."

He trailed on and on, walking away after he yelled something about writing down his findings.

\-----------

_FISHLEGS_

 

He entered his private storehouse and workroom. Meatlug lumbered in behind him, she lit the torches and fireplace before settling in the corner and falling asleep, lava dripping from her mouth. Fishlegs settled himself in front of his desk and grabbed several sheets of paper. He started scribbling down everything he had seen, including what he hadn't told anyone. He worked well into the night before he wrote down enough to satisfy him. Extinguishing the fireplace, Fishlegs left the workroom, the dimming torches briefly lit up the path as he pushed open the large storeroom doors. Shoving the door closed, he did his final patrol like he did every night, he went around checking sheep pens, making sure none of the various dragon utility buildings were broken, they got grumpy if stuff broke, and also checking that no ships were approaching Berk to attack.

As he walked around, enjoying the cool summer and the bright moonlight, he noticed a few Terrors flying around in flocks and several Nightmares taking off, heading for an island as they did every night. They liked to cause mischief with the wild dragons while their owners slept. Several of them gave a Fishlegs an acknowledging nod before taking off. Fishlegs gave them a friendly wave as he headed to the docks. He had struck a deal with a majority of them. If Fishlegs kept quiet about their nightly shenanigans, when it was Fishleg's turn to gather Nightmare gel, he'll have a slightly easier time.  _Snoutlout doesn't give Hookfang enough credit, Hookfang probably comes up with most of the ideas_ , Fishlegs thought, watching the pack of dragons silhouetted by the moon. Turning his attention back to his patrol, he strolled down the path, checking the boats for untethered ones or leaking hulls.

Finding none, he starting to walk back to his house. Passing another few croaking Deadly Nadders going to fish and several Gronkles gathering to fly into the mountains to look for tasty rocks and stones, he gave many of the friendly waves and the dragons respectfully acknowledged him, knowing he created all of the utilities around Berk along with Hiccup. It was nearing midnight by the time his patrol was over and Fishlegs was ready to collapse onto his bed. A quick peek to make sure the workroom was still intact revealed that Meatlug was off with her friends and his notes still intact. Fishlegs finally got home, quickly changed into his sleeping clothes, and collapsed into bed.

\----------

_ASTRID_

He knew. Of course, he knew. They knew everything about each other. She was done being out of the loop. She was going to find out what Hiccup was doing no matter what.


	11. A New Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astrid is finished being in the dark and she searches Fishleg's workroom. But something so simple turns out to be much more complicated than it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters might begin to start getting shorter with homework and finals but I will be doing my best to post more often.

_ASTRID/FISHLEGS_

 

She looked out her window, watching Fishlegs enter his house and the dragons milling around and taking off. The moon was fully out once again, it had been one of the nice days again today, the wind was only chilling and the cold only nipped at the skin, not that many people noticed in the fight. She had definitely seen several bodies after the matter. It was a sad thing, that people had to die for their beliefs. It hadn't been brought up and no one mentioned it but she knew the fact was still there. As she sat there by the window, she wondered where Hiccup was. He was out there somewhere, whether it was a place they visit all the time or a place they've never seen. She snapped out of her head, either way, Hiccup wasn't here and she was. Checking that Fishlegs was asleep through the lack of light coming from his hut, she quietly left her house and walked across the village towards Fishleg's workroom. The remaining dragons wandering around the village paid no attention to her as they headed off to leave or to go to sleep. 

A few minutes later, she had made her way across the village, annoying only a few dragons and making very little sound. She peeked inside through the door gap to check for Meatlug, but she was gone and the room was empty. She pulled open the door and quickly shut the door behind her. She grabbed some dying embers from the fireplace and lit the extinguished torches. The light threw shadows across the wall as the many piles of random "artifacts" blocked the light. The fireplace combined with the torches lit up the room blindingly bright, making any papers on Fishleg's desk too bright to read. After a few minutes of stumbling around, she managed to extinguish the last two torches, leaving the room in a warm bath of light. 

Astrid walked over to Fishleg's desk. A loud crash came from outside, the dragons were probably just messing around like normal.  _Flying prototypes? No, new catapults? No, new design for the forge? Cool but no, a new fireproofing system? Interesting. Here it is!_ She caught sight of a large stack of paper titled, SECRET!. This had to be what Hiccup was doing right? As she was about to grab the papers, she heard Ruffnut and Tuffnut outside the door. 

Ruffnut was yelling, "I told you not to bring Chicken inside! You know that Barf doesn't like being with Chicken in the small room!" Astrid looked around for a place to hide. She did her best to bury herself in a pile of junk and stayed as still as possible. The two entered, carrying a charred wooden door.

Tuffnut scoffed, "Ha, your dragon is such a scaredy Yak! My dragon isn't scared of Chicken at all!" 

Ruffnut sighed, "For the thousandth time, we have the same dragon, it just has two heads!" 

"Exactly, Belch isn't scared of Chicken!"

"Whatever Tuff, let's leave our door here and Fishlegs can fix it for us tomorrow."

"What?! Ruffnut, I can't sleep without a door..." The two left as Barf and Belch stuck their heads in to carry the two back to their hut, still yelling and kicking. 

After making sure the two were gone, she squirmed her way out of the pile, a few metal objects fell as she did so, clattering to the floor. She quickly returned to the desk, the SECRET! papers were still there. She started shuffling through the papers, only quickly skimming over them first. She was disappointed when it became clear that it had nothing to do with Hiccup and where he had gone. But she realized that whatever this was, it was big and important. She hesitated, realizing that this was invading Fishleg's privacy. If Fishlegs found out she had done this, he would never trust her again. She put the papers back and began to leave.

But she couldn't resist. She quickly picked up the papers again and started reading them. She gasped when she got to the third page describing the cave Fishlegs had mentioned early. Then, she heard snarls and growls from outside.

"Hey, guys! Everyone calm down, I need to fix Tuff's door before he wakes everyone up." Fishlegs was outside, and about to come inside. Astrid dropped the papers and threw some other papers on top to hide them. As Astrid ran back to her hiding place, she knocked a torch onto the floor. Not noticing, she ducked behind a pile of artifacts. A few moments later, Fishlegs came in to a fire on his floor. Fishlegs promptly yelled in surprise as expected and fled the room. Astrid was very confused until she saw the fire. By now, the fire had swamped a quarter of the room and started climbing the walls and licking the ceiling. Astrid did her best to keep as many things away from the fire as possible. There wasn't much she could do before Fishlegs came back carrying three large pails of water and a giant basin of water. After dousing the fire with the pails, Fishlegs refilled the pails with water from the basin and once again doused the water.

As the fire neared her, she started stamping out the fire, trying to prevent it from spreading. Unfortunately, this building hadn't been fireproofed yet since it had been just an old empty storage until a few months ago. As she focused on trying to not get burned to death, she was sure Fishlegs caught sight of her. Occasionally, he stared at her through the bright fire, smoke clouding the air. Sometimes he yelled at her but she pretended she didn't hear him. Eventually, he gave up and returned his attention to the fire.

Eventually, the fire was beaten back, leaving a portion of the room blackened and charred. Once the fire started retreating and the smoke started clearing, she retreated to a distant corner of the room behind piles of junk, hoping that Fishlegs wouldn't try to find her. Luckily, Fishlegs had already forgotten about her in the chaos of the fire. Once the fire was reduced to a pile of smoldering pile of planks outside and Fishlegs left to get another pail of water and return the basin, Astrid fled the smokey room, coughing and covered in ash. She didn't stop running until she got inside her house. The fire had done significant damage to his office and he felt bad but nothing big had been destroyed and she promised to help him recover tomorrow.

\-------------

Well, that was a disaster. Fishlegs was standing in his workroom, looking at the charred corner of the room and several ruined items on the floor. Ash filled the air and smoke hung in the air, making the room appear darker than it was. Fishlegs was still standing in awe when he noticed a stick on the floor wrapped in cloth and a charred door nearby. 

"Oh great, the twins were here! Of course, they probably knocked over a torch with their clumsiness and the bulky door. Great, just great!" He picked up a molten helmet in the middle of the room.

"This is history that will never be studied, never be known, all because of a torch and a door. For Thor's sake, I really need to extend the fire system out here." Fishlegs grabbed all of the ruined metal and items, threw them in a cart, and wheeled them out to the shore. It was very early morning and he most likely still had a few hours to himself. He threw the metal in a wooden pit, saved for the Armorwing when he came to fly by and visit during the summer. The rest were dumped in another pile to be taken away to the nearest volcano. 

He stood there admiring the fleets of dragons coming back from their night ventures and the beautiful sunrise. The horizon was tinged with purples and pinks before giving way to yellow and blue. The incoming storm clouds far in the distance were in clear contrast to the bright blue sky and the dragon's dark outlines. The sea was a deep blue-green, slightly rippled and small waves made the sunlight scamper and shimmer across the surface.

Fishlegs tore his eyes away as he doused his face with cold water from a jar nearby. Such a hectic day, first protecting the dragons, then guard duty, and finally the fire. Fishlegs wandered back to his storeroom. The ash had settled into a thick carpet on the ground and wisps of smoke hung around in the air. Catching sight of his desk, he grabbed all his papers, inspecting them for fire damage. Coming upon a large stack of secret papers, he neatened the pile and decided to keep them in his house instead.

"Have to make sure these don't get damaged. Also, can't have anyone taking a peek at them." This was too important for everyone to know right now. Left to interpretation, it would be too dangerous, and revealing it now without any study would be irresponsible and irrational. The best thing to do was keep it to himself for now. _Right?_   He convinced himself of that as he left the room. Turning back and breathing in the ashy air and burnt smell, he realized something. 

"Hmph. Doesn't smell like rotten vegetables anymore." Making sure that all the fire was extinguished, he walked back to his house, ready to spend the whole day in his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! If you did, a kudos or comment would be great, thanks! Enjoy your day and if you want more of my writing, check out my other stories.


	12. A Long Perilous Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup and Skullcrusher have been recovering from the visit from Rednight and they are ready to continue the trip but it's a long way from here to Toothless's Den and it was bound to be troublesome.

_HICCUP_

 

It frustrated Hiccup immensely that he had let that Night Fury get away. After treating Skullcrusher's injuries and burns, he immediately recognized the plasma burns from a Night Fury. He was positive it wasn't Toothless, he wouldn't have tried to hurt him or Skullcrusher no matter what happened, the two never argued, and when he voiced his theory to Skullcrusher, he made no objections. Hiccup wanted to chase after the mysterious dragon and dragged the boat halfway back out to sea before Skullcrusher had grabbed him and carried him back to the camp in the clearing. Skullcrusher was right though, they had been badly injured and it would best to recuperate before traveling on. He saw that now, sitting on a fallen trunk as he watched Skullcrusher helpfully pushing the ship back out to sea.

He definitely hadn't seen that though when Skullcrusher had dragged him back as he kicked and punched wildly. It also didn't help that as Skullcrusher was calming him down, the forgotten Changewing in the cave had slipped out and the two didn't get a chance to catch up to him. This flung Hiccup back into an annoyed rage, furious that they both escaped. Skullcrusher gave a tired sigh and waited as an angry Hiccup, pinned down by a Rumblehorn, tired himself out punching the sand and pulling up the grass. Once Hiccup had calmed down, Skullcrusher let him up and, with thanks for stopping him from being rash, Hiccup went to relieve the ship of a few food rations.

Now here they were, almost a week later, and they were back on the ship, sailing back up north. He already added this island to his map, putting another Night Fury and Changewing to mark the island. He had debated leaving this ship behind but, even though Skullcrusher was confident he could carry the food and equipment Hiccup had, he decided against it. The ship allowed them to rest and made the trip a lot easier for Skullcrusher. It might be slower but anyone they came by wouldn't shoot them down immediately or be intimidated by his dragon. It also gave time for Hiccup to think of an actual plan of action.

There were several forces on the move now, and Hiccup was having trouble figuring out where each side was going. There were him and Berk, who was looking for revenge on Drago and just trying to survive. There was Toothless's Den, they were assumed to be allies but he couldn't be sure, no matter how much he trusted Toothless. There were these mysterious dragons attacking him and Berk, who could be rogue dragons or Toothless's dragons. There was also Drago who was doing _something_ , and these dragons could be his as well. Frankly, Hiccup had no idea what was occurring. He just hoped that by returning to the Den, he would get some answers and figure out something about the situation. 

He was going there right now, the den was northeast from Berk. The horrid storm had blown them way off course. They were now in the southeast, based on Hiccup's predictions. Sailing back north, Hiccup waited for landmarks to get his bearings and a short hour later, he was back on the map and heading north. He was going to land on the abandoned Outcast island to look for any supplies he could take before leaving. After the island had been ravaged by dragons, it had been abandoned, the Outcasts settling elsewhere. Dragons still roamed the island but he didn't know the specifics of which ones or how many. He just hoped that he'd be able to grab some food or materials and leave peacefully. A lot of stuff had been damaged by the storm and a large amount of food was missing so he needed to replace that or trade for repair materials and food.

Other than the dire situation in the archipelago, it was a spectacular day. The sun was glimmering off the soft waves, gently rocking the boat, making Hiccup quite tired and drowsy. Skullcrusher was curled on the main deck, having a delightful nap in the warm southern sun. He hadn't been taught to purr yet and his resounding snoring carried far across the aquamarine water. Birds flew overhead as they investigated the lonely ship following the breeze north. Hiccup sat on the deck, prosthetic leg off and lying next to him. It was more comfortable for him as he drew the flocks of birds and marked passing islands on his map. Twice, Scauldrons poked their heads out of the water, disturbed by the ship. Hiccup quickly gained their trust whenever they bumped the ship. They left the ship alone once they realized Hiccup's intentions were just to pass by. Hiccup found the Scauldrons interesting and drew as many of them as he could. He, however, didn't interest them and they quickly left after a few minutes. As the ship was sailed north, Hiccup surveyed the landscape, steering occasionally to reach Outcast Island. Skullcrusher woke several times and flew off to do a little fishing. There wasn't much fish but he did manage to fill himself. The sun bore down on Hiccup who was absently doodling in his notebook, drawing mountains and fields as they passed by. 

After a few hours of monotone sea travel and right after Hiccup finished his rationed lunch, Hiccup fell out of his chair as a large wave jerked the ship. Hastily putting on his leg again, Hiccup hobbled to the railing looking for the source. Expecting a coastline or a storm, Hiccup instead saw a massive ship far in the distance on the horizon. After a few minutes of spyglass adjusting and watching, he concluded that it was a wretched ship of dragon hunters. From this distance, he couldn't tell if they belonged to Drago or if they were working for themselves. After convincing a reluctant Skullcrusher to go below decks, Hiccup lowered the sails and slowed down. This kept him in the path of the pirate's ship and as they approached, he hailed them down. They threw a rope to him and Hiccup docked up against side them. "Hello, traders! Do you have any materials I can trade with you?" 

An unkempt man answered him, "We are not traders boy! We are dragon hunters and we only deal the finest dragon slaves and hides! The question I have is, do you have anything that I can steal?"

Hiccup ignored his question and regarded him, "Dragon Hunters? Sounds prestigious, who do work for? Is it a profitable trade?"

The crew of pirate chuckled, "Prestigious indeed! We do not work for anyone! Such an idea is beneath us! Only the wealthiest men can hire us as mercenaries to hunt dragons!"

Hiccup smiled, "Independent contractors? Very nice, in fact, I would be happy to trade for some of your materials for my goods."

The unkempt captain spoke to him again, "Listen, you're a young one, and I know you're new around here but there is nothing you have I could want."

Hiccup frowned, "How unfortunate, I really would have liked to avoid Drago's outpost for now. No matter, I'm sure nothing will stop him from acquiring my dragon. Farewell, and may Odin favor you and your business!"

Whispers sprang up from the ship's wood, "Dragon?" "He has a dragon?" "Did I hear a dragon?" "Dragons for Drago?" "Earl! He has a dragon!"

As Hiccup leaned over the rail to untie himself from the hunter ship, the captain pulled the rope back. "You say you've got a dragon? Luckily for you, I been looking for a dragon myself."

Hiccup stood up straight, "Have you now? Don't you need the space for all the dragons you're going to hunt?"

The captain's hand went to the sheath on his waist, "Answer's no, now you mind showing my men this dragon? We'll just take it off your hand for you, don't want you to be messing with Drago now would we? Otherwise, this could get messy."

Hiccup got in the man's face and shrugged, "Appreciate it friend, plenty more where he came from. Come on down below deck."

The ragged man laughed, "You think I'm stupid! Bring that beast up here, I ain't going down there with you to get trapped."

Hiccup laughed along, "How clever you are! But have you not noticed my ship? It isn't as big as yours, getting that guy down there was hell with this leg. I'm not bringing him up without some help."

The captain frowned,"You make a good point. You three head down with him and check out the dragon!"

The three pirates followed Hiccup down into the hull. A mere five minutes later, Hiccup poked his head out of the stairwell, "This one's a tough one! We're going to need another few guys to pull him on up, your guys said he's perfect for you!" Another four pirates disappeared into Hiccup's hull. Hiccup returned to the deck yet again, limping out of the stairs. "Tough one, I must've been really lucky to catch him!"

The captain pulled out his sword, "Where are my men you swindler?"

Hiccup laughed and pulled out his Dragon Blade, "No need for that. They're just downstairs with my dragon. They're having a grand time cowering in fear." 

The crew took up arms behind the captain, their numbers significantly thinned, "Tricked us from the beginning didn't you. A man who isn't scared Drago, I can respect that, too bad you've got my dragon. Attack!" The small crew of five leaped over the railing onto Hiccup's ship. Swords clashed and Hiccup fought them off, singing hats and lighting coats. Hiccup was on his last leg when he was forced to use his fake leg to block a swing to his good leg. Surrounded and in dire danger, Hiccup released a cloud of Zippleback gas and fled as the pirates were stunned. With a single word, Skullcrusher was out on the deck behind Hiccup. As the gas dispersed, the pirates turned to Hiccup and fled from the Rumblehorn behind him.

The small crew of five leaped over the railing onto Hiccup's ship. Swords clashed and Hiccup fought them off, singing hats and lighting coats. Hiccup was on his last leg when he was forced to use his fake leg to block a swing to his good leg. Surrounded and in dire danger, Hiccup released a cloud of Zippleback gas and fled as the pirates were stunned. With a single word, Skullcrusher was out on the deck behind Hiccup. As the gas dispersed, the pirates turned to Hiccup and fled from the Rumblehorn behind him.

The captain grinned, "A fine specimen indeed! You'll make a great prize for Drago."

Dragonroot crossbow bolts assaulted Skullcrusher who smacked them down with his heavy tail. Hiccup chuckled, "First time seeing a Rumblehorn?"

The captain was embarrassed, "Yeah, normally we just find Nadders and Zipplebacks. Had to try though?"

He drew his sword and attacked the pair. Minutes later, Hiccup was downstairs with all of the tied up pirates, "Look I'm taking your ship okay? I left enough food for you to hopefully make it to some settlement. Once you get there, I'd recommend quitting your "careers" and becoming an actual merchant or fishermen. I'm leaving a knife here when I leave, one of you will crawl over here, get it and cut all of you free. By then I will be gone and you will never see me again, get it?"

The group grumbled and mumbled. Some thanked him for straightening them out, others were indifferent and a few cursed him. As Hiccup staggered up the stairs, the captain's voice stopped him, "Hey! I never got your name! One day I'm going to find you and we're going to just talk okay?" 

Hiccup turned, "I doubt it but what's your's?"

"Filmore Blythe, they call me The Marked Blythe."

"Well good talking Blythe, if you ever want to find me, just find Berk, you'll find me."

Hiccup was untying the two ships when he heard exclaiming from his ship, "Wait it's that boy! The one Drago fought. Hiccup Haddock, the first trainer of dragons and the first to fly with them."

"The Night Fury Knight?"

"No one calls him that!"

"Everyone I know does. That's what Drago said once, I think it was supposed to be an insult?"

"That's stupid. Just stop talking and get the knife okay?"

Hiccup had begun drifting away when Filmore crawled to the railing, "Hiccup! Drago is planning for you, be cautious with him! We owe you for helping us escape Drago! It's the least I could do for you!"

Hiccup thanked him and waved as the ships separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez, I'm so sorry guys. I was doing some rereading after getting caught up with the Netflix series to make sure a majority of the lore was still canon or at least close to it and MAN I caught so many typos. The repetition of paragraphs seems to be some problem with the archive since I'm definitely not typing it twice obviously. Seems to be especially problematic when I reload the chapter after typing a portion of it, or when I start typing again after I idle too long. I'll try to reread more often guys, really sorry about that! Doesn't help either when it breaks during my last submission either.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this part! If you found mistakes, want to help me to improve, or would like to give me praise (thanks), leave it in the comments and I'll reply ASAP. Please give me tips to improve, especially if you don't like my writing (for now).
> 
> Although this work was not based off of any work, or co-written by anyone, I would like to thank Leletha among many others, including but not limited to, Mystery_Girl11, SkyLight369, and WinDragon, for inspiring me to start writing.


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